Detectives arrest suspects accused of murdering couple near Hatch

Detectives with the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s detectives, Las Cruces Police and New Mexico State Police arrested two suspects in connection to the murder of a couple inside a Garfield home.

Garfield is a community near Hatch, New Mexico.

Luis Flores, 29, and Cristal Cardenas, 30, were arrested in Las Cruces Wednesday afternoon. Both face charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and criminal solicitation, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman said.

Sheriff’s deputies and a Hatch police officer were dispatched to the 3200 block of Carriage Hills in Garfield just before 9 a.m. Sunday. When they arrived, they found the bodies of a man and a woman who appeared to have been shot to death. The woman was later identified as Vanessa Rodriguez Mora, 32, and the man was identified as Mario Cabral, 34.

Flores and Cardenas are being held without bond at the Doña Ana County Detention Center.