Month: July 2011

Las Cruces police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a 29 -year-old woman and her infant son who may be in danger. In a news release, police said they are looking for Rene Marie Garcia and her 14-day-old son. Police said they have reason to believe the woman’s son may be in danger

A missing Las Cruces mother and her infant son have been found, according to Las Cruces Police. Investigators said they had reason to believe the newborn may have been in danger. Las Cruces Police Investigators told ABC-7 that Renee Marie Garcia, 29, and baby were located around noon Saturday. Police had been looking for the

During a heated fight, a man broke a glass bottle, stabbed his girlfriend and then stabbed himself, according to El Paso Police. Investigators said they responded to the call on Saturday morning at about 5:40 at a residence on DeLeon Street in west El Paso. Police said the 18-year-old man got into an argument with

Sheriff’s Investigators said a woman on Friday rolled her SUV and had to be removed from the mangled metal of the vehicle using the jaws of life. It happened Friday evening at about 6:20 on I-10 east near the Horizon Exit. Investigators said Velores Upchurch Munoz, 33, was the only person inside the 2008 grey

An El Paso Police SUV sustained major damage as a result of a Saturday morning crash, according to department officials. Investigators said a police supervisor stopped his marked SUV on I-10 west near Cotton around 9:45 to clear debris, a cooking grill, out of the freeway lane. According to police, traffic was moving to the

The El Paso Police Department’s gang unit is investigating an early morning shooting. Police officials said officers were called out to the 10600 block of Birthstone Drive around 4:09 Saturday morning. Investigators said the victim, described only as a 20-year-old Hispanic man, had been involved in a fight at another east side location. When he

The El Paso Police Department is asking for the community’s assistance in locating 56-year-old Leonel Meza-Morado. In a news release, police said Meza-Morado was last seen around 8:25 Friday morning at the Desert Heaven Adult Daycare on the 8500 block of San Juan Lane in El Paso’s lower valley. According to investigators, Meza-Morado suffers from

Their chants were loud and clear: “We want our homes back! Where is the justice? We want answers!” About a dozen protesters marched and held signs outside the office of the El Paso County Water Management District #1 Friday afternoon. They were demonstrating on behalf of the families left displaced by flooding waters from a

Keeping El Paso safe on a budget. City leaders hired a consulting firm to study how the police department is using your tax dollars and how it can be more efficient with them. The review was put together by MGT of America, a private consulting group in Austin. The results were presented to El Paso

Two men have been sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping a West Texas man who was later found shot with his hands chopped off in Juarez, Mexico. Prosecutors say a Mexican drug cartel hired Cesar Obregon-Reyes and Rafael Vega to kidnap a man from his Horizon City home in September over a botched drug

How would you like to see items worn by Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter in one of the most classic films of all time? A local museum is giving you the chance to do just that. ABC-7 was given an exclusive tour of “The Ten Commandments” exhibit in downtown El Paso. The installation

The U.S. Consulate General in Juarez issued a warning about the likelihood of threats against U.S. citizens in the state of Chihuahua. Mexican authorities have captured key members of the cartels active in Juarez. According to a news release, these arrests might result in an increase in violence, wherein cartels may seek to retaliate and

Police are looking for two armed men who stormed into a man’s home, threw him and his friends onto the floor, zip-tied them and held them at knifepoint. Police said the home invasion occurred Wednesday night on the 800 block of San Pedro Street in Las Cruces. The victim said the incident happened so fast

It seems only appropriate that under the magic of a full moon a decade-long film franchise comes to a bitter sweet close. For most fans, watching the midnight premiere of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II” marks the end of an era. “It’s kind of cool because we watched them grow up as

One of the city’s most popular tourist attractions is going through some unpopular changes. The Wyler Aerial Tramway will soon have shorter hours of operation, and it’s already dealing with a bare bones crew after park officials were forced to cut almost half the tramway’s staff. “It’s been a somber mood (around here),” said Humberto

Phones in the ABC-7 newsroom started ringing Tuesday night when the station reported on the debt ceiling negotiations. Some viewers said ABC-7 got it all wrong when it reported that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Social Security checks might not come if there’s no debt ceiling deal by Aug. 2. Many thought the station was

The U.S. Department of Justice is awarding the Las Cruces Fire Department a grant worth more than $1 million. The funding is being awarded through the agency’s SAFER program, which aims to enhance the ability of grant winners to maintain 24-hour staffing and to assure that their communities have adequate protection from fire and other

This story sounds straight out of a movie. Men rush into a local restaurant with guns drawn and take down a suspected criminal. This actually happened Monday night at a west El Paso Taco Cabana restaurant. ABC-7 reporter Celina Avila spoke to a customer who witnessed it all happen. “He was wearing full protective body

It took a jury of six women less than an hour to decide that former city Rep. Rachel Quintana is guilty of forgery. Quintana, who left public office about two weeks ago, was accused of falsifying a former FedEx supervisor’s signature to get a discounted flight on Oct. 25, 2007. She was elected into office

Fire officials say arson is likely to blame for the that destroyed a vacant mobile home in far east El Paso. It happened just after 2 a.m. Thursday morning on the 4400 block of Turf. That’s south of Montana near the El Paso County Jail Annex. No injuries were reported, but two people from a

The Center for Digital Government and the National Association of Counties have listed Doa Ana County’s website as one of the top 10 in the country for a sixth consecutive year, according to a news release. The website has earned national recognition for counties with populations less than 250,000, ranking eighth this year, down from

The former mayor of the New Mexico border town of Columbus has pleaded guilty to federal gun smuggling charges. U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy announced Wednesday that 51-year-old Eddie Espinoza has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, three counts of making false statements in the acquisition of firearms, and three counts of smuggling firearms

A year of probation and a $4,000 fine. That’s what former city Rep. Rachel Quintana was sentenced to Thursday for forging her former Fed-Ex supervisor’s signature in 2007 in order to use discounted Southwest Airlines tickets. Initially the sentence was read that Quintana would spend a year in jail along with that hefty fine, prompting

Project Vida Health Center was awarded $500,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday to expand and provide more health-care services. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced awards of $95 million — provided by the Affordable Care Act — to 278 school-based health center programs across the country

If a person decides to get behind the wheel after having a few drinks, or when situations become tense with family members and arguments quickly become physical, police will get involved. It can happen any time. El Paso Police will administer tests and determine whether people were driving while intoxicated, and police will determine whether

El Paso City Council took up the proposed police and fire department budgets during a hearing Wednesday. Under City Manager Joyce Wilson’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012, spending for the El Paso Fire Department would increase from roughly $89 million to $92 million. El Paso Fire Chief Otto Drozd explained to city representatives that

The Humane Society of Southern New Mexico’s new campaign puts the focus on spaying female pets to help ease overcrowding at local animal shelters. Last week, ABC-7 reported that seven out of 10 dogs and cats taken to the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley are euthanized instead of adopted. Humane Society President Frank

More than a month after water from the Franklin Canal devastated her home and swept up her belongings, Brenda Navejas can’t help but to get choked up. “My biggest wish is to come back to my home,” she said through tears. Navejas is one of 12 families from the Ramos Court neighborhood who are still

Jerry the horse has died. Jerry, who was left to starve to death in San Elizario, was found Tuesday — alone — in a field on the 13-hundred block of Janelle Lynne. Jerry was then taken to a ranch in El Paso’s Upper Valley where he died Wednesday afternoon, said Angie Sommers, Precinct 7 constable.