Suspect in killing of Albuquerque girl was on probation, slipped through the cracks
A New Mexico official says a man arrested in the killing of a 10-year-old Albuquerque girl was supposed to be on supervised probation from an unrelated case but wasn’t being monitored by probation officers.
Albuquerque’s KRQE-TV reports officials are investigating how 31-year-old Fabian Gonzales slipped through the cracks.
KRQE-TV says Gonzales pleaded no contest in 2015 to two misdemeanors after his arrest for beating a woman in a car with a baby inside it while the woman was driving. A judge sentenced him to two years of probation under state supervision.
Deputy Corrections Secretary Alex Sanchez told KRQE-TV his department wasn’t notified of the judge’s order and learned of it Thursday, the day after the girl was killed.
Second Judicial District Court spokesman Tim Korte says a review is underway but disputes the court failed to notify the department.
Gonzales is the boyfriend of the girl’s mother. He told reporters after his arrest that he didn’t have a role in Victoria Martens’ death.
Albuquerque residents are struggling to understand how the 10-year-old girl became the target of gruesome violence.
The battered and partially dismembered body of Victoria Martens was found wrapped in a blanket set on fire in an apartment by police responding to a report of a disturbance Wednesday morning.
The girl’s mother and the suspect’s cousin are in custody.
As news spread about Victoria Martens’ death, neighbors and friends built a makeshift memorial under a tree near the apartment complex where she lived. They adorned it with stuffed animals and candles. Some visitors hugged while others cried and prayed.
The shrine grew as people gathered for an evening candlelight vigil on Thursday. Another shrine was erected at the elementary school where Victoria had just started the new school year.
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