In the past four months, police twice responded to calls in which Leroy Fresquez Jr. allegedly threatened his girlfriend, whom he admitted to killing July 17 at his mother’s Española home.
As of Tuesday, Fresquez Jr., 20, was being held at McKinley County Jail on $1 million bond for fatally shooting Jasmine Gaytan, 20. Assistant District Attorney Tom Cruse has entered a motion allowing him to be kept in jail until he is indicted.
The murder weapon has not been found by police but Fresquez’s mother, Joyce, has been arrested for tampering with evidence (see related story).
Police reports detailing two 911 calls in the months leading up to the shooting back claims made by two of Jasmine Gaytan’s relatives that Fresquez’s relationship with Gaytan was often violent.
The first incident allegedly occurred April 12 when Fresquez Jr. allegedly got into an argument with his girlfriend in a Hindi Mobile Home Park residence, sprayed mace inside the house and pulled out a gun and started shooting in the air outside the house, according to 911 dispatch logs.
Gaytan’s sister Ebelin Naranjo said the couple and a group of other people were at the house for a birthday party that day when Fresquez Jr. followed Gaytan into the bathroom and pulled a gun out on her.
“He was just yelling and he had a bottle of mace and he started macing the whole house,” Naranjo said. “We couldn’t even breathe or anything.”
Naranjo said after police were called, Fresquez Jr. fled in Gaytan’s car. Before she reported it stolen, Gaytan called Fresquez Jr.’s mother, Joyce, who told her not to report it stolen, because he would bring it back. According to Naranjo, Fresquez Jr. totalled the car, though there is no report documenting this. No arrests or charges have been filed in the case.
Joyce Fresquez did not return a call for comment.
On June 26, police were called to Gaytan’s parents’ house because Fresquez Jr. was allegedly threatening Gaytan with a gun. Gaytan told police Fresquez Jr. was dropping off her and the couple’s son, Ian, after picking them up at the hospital, and an argument ensued, according to the report. Gaytan said Fresquez Jr. fired several shots in an unknown direction, but then said she wasn’t sure if he had a gun.
Police questioned Fresquez Jr. at his mother’s house in C De Baca Circle, where the alleged murder took place a few weeks later. Fresquez Jr. claimed he didn’t have a gun but threw two fireworks as he was leaving the residence. Because of inconsistencies in Gaytan’s story, police didn’t press charges, according to the police report, but police instructed Gaytan on how to get a restraining order.
After that incident, Gaytan and Fresquez Jr. broke up but got back together over the July 4 weekend, Naranjo said.
According to Naranjo’s version of events, Joyce Fresquez promised Gaytan she would take away Fresquez Jr.’s gun.
DUI Arrest
On April 16, four days after the Hindi Mobile Home Park incident, Fresquez Jr. was arrested for aggravated driving under the influence, careless driving, negligent use of a deadly weapon, receiving stolen property and driving without valid registration or insurance. He was driving in Camel Rock Casino’s parking lot when he struck a curb and was pulled over by Tesuque Tribal Police.
Fresquez Jr. had slurred speech and dry foam on the sides of his mouth, according to court documents. He admitted to taking Percocet and said he received a shot of OxyContin at a doctor’s appointment. He was unable to perform field sobriety tests, and refused to give a blood sample for testing, saying, “I’m getting (expletive) anyway, and I don’t care.”
One of Fresquez Jr.’s two passengers, his brother, Nicholas Fresquez, 17, exhibited similar symptoms to Fresquez Jr. and had a tube of ground-up Percocet in one of his pockets. He was arrested on a Rio Arriba County warrant for failure to appear in Magistrate Court, according to court documents.
The other passenger, Nabor Gomez, 14, was arrested after it was discovered he was on probation out of Rio Arriba County. Gomez allegedly broke into an Española home in April 2008 and robbed two young children of $12 at gunpoint. The District Attorney’s office has not returned calls for information on the status of this case.
Officers further discovered a loaded rifle in the trunk of the car and a purse behind the driver seat containing a driver’s license for an older woman. Santa Fe Police confirmed the purse had been stolen about 30 minutes before from a woman who was injured in the process. Calls to Santa Fe and Tesuque police were not returned.
Fresquez Jr. was released April 22 from Santa Fe County Jail and was scheduled to appear in Santa Fe Magistrate Court Aug. 11 for a pretrial conference, but it is unknown whether that setting will be changed in light of his recent more serious crime.
‘Hate My Daddy’
Ian told Naranjo something disturbing after his mother was killed: “I hate my daddy because my daddy wanted to shoot my mommy.”
Naranjo said she hopes the child is referring to the June 26 incident, but is afraid he witnessed his mother’s murder. The boy is now being cared for by Naranjo and her mother, Olga Gaytan.
Fresquez Jr. and his family told police that an aunt had Ian when the shooting took place — but they also initially lied about how Gaytan died, Naranjo and Rodriguez said.
When Rodriguez first arrived at the hospital, Fresquez Jr. and his family said Gaytan died in a drive-by shooting, then claimed she shot herself, Rodriguez said. Joyce Fresquez said she and Fresquez Jr. were in the living room when they heard a noise in the couple’s bedroom and thought it was a firework. Then Fresquez said she saw Fresquez Jr. run out of the couple’s bedroom, even though she had just said he was in the living room with her, not in the bedroom.
“The cops were like, ‘How could he have run out of the room if he was in the living room with you?’” Rodriguez said.
At that point, Gaytan’s brother Reuben became suspicious and told Fresquez Jr. to confess.
Fresquez also told police two other versions of what happened before admitting fault.
“There were just so many stories, everyone was covering up for everyone,” Naranjo said. “I told Joyce, ‘I hope your son didn’t have nothing to do with this because you will be hurting too.’ She was just looking at me saying, ‘He didn’t do it Ebbie, he didn’t do it.’”
This story required a correction: Leroy Fresquez Jr.’s mother, Joyce Fresquez, was the one who was charged with tampering with evidence, not the victim’s mother.