Man charged with killing ex-girlfriend in Chimayó, setting house on fire

Aug. 29—State police investigators say a man from Hernández killed his ex-girlfriend in her home in Chimayó on Monday and set the house on fire — weeks after she received a restraining order against him.

New Mexico State Police have accused Leonel Andrade Garcia, 42, of stabbing and killing his ex-girlfriend, 46-year-old Analilia Morales-Castillo, before setting fire to the home on a private road off County Road 87 and stabbing another man.

Garcia was in police custody Wednesday, according to a returned warrant filed in court. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Friday morning.

Firefighters arrived at the scene Monday morning and carried Morales-Castillo's body out of the burning home, where she had been tied up and stabbed, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed against Garcia. Morales-Castillo was dead, police wrote, but another man with stab wounds who was identified as her brother was found unconscious at the entrance of the house and taken to a hospital for treatment.

Garcia, who police wrote was found unconscious in a field nearby, faces charges of first-degree murder, arson, first-degree kidnapping, tampering with evidence, aggravated burglary, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated stalking and criminal damage to property.

Family members of the victim could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The victim's siblings told investigators they had tried to remove Morales-Castillo from the burning home but they were attacked by Garcia, according to the affidavit.

Morales-Castillo's sister told police she arrived at her sister's house shortly after 9 a.m. and heard her screams from the road, the affidavit says. She said she had just received a call from her sister's co-workers at Española's Subway restaurant, who told her she did not show up for work that morning.

The sister retrieved her brother from a house down the street, and the two were trying to open the front door when Garcia pushed the door open from the inside and began stabbing the brother, according to the affidavit.

Police had initially been dispatched to an address a block away in response to calls reporting a domestic disturbance with a woman screaming outside.

The victim's sister told police several neighbors helped her pull bars off one window of the burning house in an attempt to try to remove Morales-Castillo.

After police arrived, Garcia barricaded himself in the crawl space of Morales-Castillo's home and then ran off, police wrote in the affidavit. A separate search warrant affidavit refers to officers' reports of a man chasing first responders with a knife at the scene.

Police found Garcia unconscious in a nearby field with a knife buried in the ground next to him, they wrote. He was taken to an Albuquerque hospital with multiple stab wounds, the affidavit says.

During a Tuesday interview at the hospital, Garcia told officers an unknown man had attacked Morales-Castillo and himself, and that he had also stabbed himself three times.

Investigators from the state Fire Marshal's Office suspect the fire was caused by arson due to the burn patterns as well as "accelerants" found in one area of the home, state police wrote.

Morales-Castillo had an active restraining order against Garcia when she was killed.

State District Judge Denise Thomas issued a temporary restraining order Aug. 15 in response to a petition Morales-Castillo filed against Garcia the day before.

In the petition, Morales-Castillo wrote Garcia had battered her days beforehand and that she believed he was "really dangerous."

"He is always saying that he can kill me with his bare hands," she added.

The restraining order prohibited Garcia from going within 100 yards of Morales-Castillo's workplace or residence, under threat of arrest or criminal charges. A court hearing was scheduled Wednesday in the domestic case.

Morales-Castillo wrote she began dating Garcia about a year before, and that "in the beginning it was fine, but after a couple of months he became very jealous."

Garcia began to push her and grab her by the neck "for no reason," she wrote, and he "was constantly angry, harassing me, stalking me and intimidating me."

"He attacked me and hurt me really bad," she wrote. "I don't want to die."

She also noted an incident earlier this year in which she called 911 after Garcia had chased her "in a rage" to take her phone.

Garcia was charged with misdemeanor battery in February after the incident at Morales-Castillo's residence in Chimayó. She told police Garcia had twisted her arm back behind her to grab her cellphone from her before breaking the phone.

The case was dismissed by prosecutors in mid-July. A notice of dismissal from the First Judicial District Attorney's Office stated the charge was being dropped because Morales-Castillo, a "necessary witness" for the prosecution, was "uncooperative."