Couple wanted in Albuquerque homicide arrested in southern Colorado

May 24—A couple are charged in the shooting death of a man last month at an apartment complex off East Central.

Jacob Romero, 26, and Euphemia Rivas, 27, are each facing an open count of murder in the April 19 killing of Alexander Deherrera, 31.

Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said Rivas and Romero were arrested Tuesday by U.S. Marshals in Alamosa, Colorado. He said they will be taken to Albuquerque and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Court records show Romero has been arrested numerous times on drug and auto theft charges since 2017.

Romero entered a drug court program in February as part of a plea deal in a 2023 case in which he was found with 40 fentanyl pills in his shoe, according to court records.

Court records show that, on April 18, Romero was terminated from drug court after repeated violations; officers smelled fentanyl during a home visit, Romero failed a drug test and he refused to show up for additional drug tests or check into detox.

"(Romero's) whereabouts are currently unknown," according to the violation report.

Two days later, officers were called around 9 p.m. to a double shooting at the Cinnamon Tree Apartments, near Louisiana and Central. Police found Deherrera fatally shot inside a vehicle and Rivas' sister injured by gunfire.

The sister told police Deherrera was selling drugs to Rivas when he ran out to the vehicle and said, "we gotta go," according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. She said Rivas ran out to the car and asked for the fentanyl pills, but Deherrera demanded money for the pills first.

Police said the sister told them a man — later identified as Romero — walked up holding a double-barreled shotgun and Rivas said, "shoot them." Deherrera was shot in the back and Rivas' sister was hit in the arm.

Rivas' father, who lives in the same complex, told police Romero knocked on his door asking for a ride and, when the father told him no, took off running, according to the complaint. A few days later, police were told that Rivas was in Chama and had been telling people she shot Deherrera and her sister.

Police said Rivas had told people she was going to flee to Texas. Detectives were able to identify Romero as the suspect through his tattoos, documented when he went to jail, and Rivas' father and sister picked him out of a photo array.