Victims speak out after arrests in armed home invasion

A violent armed Las Cruces home invasion Tuesday morning has resulted in three arrests. The victims are a couple in their 80s.

Jesse V. Saenz, 43, and Dianna T. Parra, 38, were arrested later that same day. Daniel Hernandez, 23, turned himself into police Wednesday afternoon after a warrant was issued for his arrest. They’re charged with kidnapping, aggravated burglary and conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary. Saenz and Hernandez are also charged with tampering with evidence.

This took place in a normally quiet residential neighborhood on Harvard Drive in northern Las Cruces. The victims spoke only to ABC-7 about the chilling details of the home invasion.

Richard and Oleta Gorham said they were going through their normal routine when two armed men burst into their home Tuesday morning.

“They just said ‘We’re not going to hurt you, we just want your money,” Oleta said. “‘Tell us where the money is. But don’t move, or I will kill you.'”

The retired couple said the didn’t know their attackers, but that the two men in hoodies seemed to know the victims, and came prepared. Smashing their way in, the men then rapidly secured an escape route and bound the Gorhams with rolls of duct tape at the ready.

“Suddenly I hear this crashing noise,” Oleta said. “And I turn around, and the two people are coming through this window, one right after the other.”

Oleta said the armed invaders seemed to know where they were going. One of them moved quickly through the house to confront her husband, Richard.

“They duct taped my legs, my legs here,” Richard said, pointing just above his knees, then further up his torso. “My waist, up here and taped me right across there, so I was pretty immobile.”

After gathering them in a bedroom, the men allegedly told the Gorhams not to move, and demanded to know where the money was. But Richard and Oleta said the invaders were finding the cash before they could even answer.

“They just took everything out of the drawers, emptying them,” Richard said.

“They turned them upside down, left the drawers on the floor,” Oleta said.

The men ransacked the bedrooms, focused only on the cash and coins in the house. Oleta said they even took two ice cream containers full of loose change. Police say they later found empty ice cream containers matching their description in the truck Hernandez had been driving.
“And he said, ‘Do you have any more money?’ and we said no,” Oleta said. “And then they said ‘I’m leaving the room right now, but I’ll be back in 15 seconds, and if you’ve moved we’ll kill you.'”

Once she was sure they were gone, Oleta managed to free herself, then free Richard and call the police.

“They left, and then it was very quiet,” Oleta said. “We assumed that they were gone. And I was able to get the tape from around my wrists by using my teeth to get it started.”

The Gorhams have lived together in their house for over 30 years and said they’ve never even heard of something like this happening in their neighborhood before.