New investigation work done by a prosecutor who took over a 2007 murder case earlier this year led to the indictment of Diego Fong Aug. 6 on a first-degree murder charge, according to the District Attorney’s office.
A Rio Arriba County grand jury has formally charged Fong, 25, with killing his cousin’s husband, Harold Gallegos, by strangulation May 27, 2007, at a home on North Prince Drive in Española, court documents state. Fong intervened in a fight between Gallegos, 40, and Gallegos’ wife, who is Fong’s cousin, after hearing the sound of punching and Gallegos’ wife screaming, according to the police report. Fong told police he and Gallegos struggled until Fong was able to get Gallegos in a chokehold, the report states.
Fong told police he “took Harold to the ground and held him down for a short while,” and Gallegos was breathing, but unconscious, when Fong and Gallegos’ wife last saw him before leaving the house that night, the report states.
Fong and Gallegos’ wife returned the following day and found Gallegos dead, lying in the exact same position they had last seen him, Fong told police. During the ensuing investigation, Fong was cooperative and expressed remorse for apparently causing Gallegos’ death, Española Police Sgt. Christian Lopez said. Gallegos’ wife has not been charged in connection with the case.
“(Fong) felt bad for what occurred in that house that night,” Lopez said. “Granted, he didn’t turn himself in, he wasn’t that remorseful, but he was crying.”
After leaving the unconscious Gallegos, but before returning and finding him deceased, Gallegos’ wife called Gallegos’ friend Jose Jacquez and asked him to check on Gallegos, the police report states. Jacquez declined, according to what Gallegos’ wife told police, saying he did not want to get involved in the couple’s long-standing domestic problems.
Prosecutor Jason Montclare said Monday when he re-interviewed Jacquez after taking over prosecution of the case in April of this year, Jacquez said Fong had threatened to kill Gallegos in the past. This evidence of premeditation, presented before a Rio Arriba grand jury, supported charging Fong with first-degree murder, Montclare said.
“If that’s their basis for the first-degree murder charge — a good defense attorney can tear that apart and have lunch on it,” Lopez said. “I think we did put together a good case, I’m not sure for first-degree murder, but a murder count.”
Fong lives in Ohkay Owingeh but is not a pueblo member, Montclare said. He is currently wanted on a $500,000 cash-only warrant signed by state District Court Judge Tim Garcia, Montclare said.
Fong is scheduled to make his first court appearance on the charges Sept. 11.