New details revealed in arrest of man in El Paso on murder charge in New Mexico
New details emerged Wednesday about a man arrested on a murder charge in an El Paso neighborhood after decades on the run.
Authorities had been seeking Paul Sanchez for a 1996 murder in New Mexico and found him Tuesday living under an assumed name with a family in an east El Paso home.
Sanchez is accused of shooting and killing Miguel Cabrera outside a dance hall in Albuquerque back in September of 1996, when he was 18 years old. U.S. marshals said he’d been on the run ever since.
Working in conjunction with DEA and the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force from the Western District of Texas, an investigation by the the South West Investigative Fugitive Team Taskforce from the District of New Mexico pointed towards a house on the 12000 block of Van Gogh Drive in east El Paso. A U.S. Marshals spokesman said he started a family while living under an assumed name: Gerardo Delgado. Officers placed the house under surveillance, and saw a man matching Sanchez’s description exit the residence then go back inside.
Neighbor Christine Miranda saw the arrest unfold.
“I looked out my balcony door and I saw like a bunch of men, and they had like black vests (and were) lined up,” Miranda said. “And I was like ‘Oh my God, what is that.’ I stayed staring and sure enough I called (my daughter) so she could come up and look with me. And sure enough I saw them approach the house and they all, I don’t know, they made this loud noise. That’s why I said I thought they broke the door. So then I saw them all around the house, and before I knew it, I saw them come out with the mom. The mom and the two little girls come out first, and the guy in handcuffs.”
In addition to first degree murder, Sanchez is charged with shooting at an occupied building, 3 counts of attempted first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated battery, bribery of a witness, tampering with evidence, and 4 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, all in connection with that shooting in 1996.
Neighbors say the family kept to themselves, and that the parent’s didn’t seem to have a regular work schedule, with the man they now know as Paul Sanchez occasionally trying to sell them perfume.
“It’s like oh my God, I didn’t know” Miranda said. “I mean, I never thought that I would live across the street from a killer. It’s just weird — and then I let him in my home, to show us the perfumes. Like ah, that’s scary.”
Miranda said her children played with the family at school and in the street, and that the parents didn’t seem to keep a regular work schedule, which made her wonder for other reasons.
“No, they were always home,” Miranda said. “That’s why I said I thought they probably sold drugs for that reason, because I never saw them like go anywhere. During the day, I’m a stay at home mom. But I see everyone in the morning, like 6 (a.m.) leaving to work, but not them.”
Other neighbors like Eric Pag though the family may have spent part of their time in Juarez, but weren’t out of the ordinary in keeping to themselves.
“Not like they were very hiding, not really, man,” Pag said. “I didn’t really talk to them much, but from afar, it just seemed like a regular mexican family that lived in Juarez, and would come back here.”
U.S. marshalls said Sanchez is in Otero county, awaiting extradition to Albuquerque to stand trial.