John Jefferson
Inset: Adlai Mestre (Bernalillo County Sheriff). Background: The location in New Mexico where the bodies of Mestre’s mother, father and sister were found in a ravine (KOB).
A New Mexico man is accused of killing his mother, father, sister and family dog and dragging their bodies to a ravine outside the family’s home before he was caught cleaning the crime scene.
Adlai Mestre, 24, faces a slew of charges in connection with the fatal shootings of his father, Raymundo, 46, mother, Bertha, 51, sister Breille, 17, and the family dog, authorities said. Mestre faces three open counts of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, extreme cruelty to animals, escape from the custody of a peace officer, and criminal damage to property, online court records show.
A landlord called 911 on Sunday at 2:14 p.m. after hearing shots fired next door at 55 Young Road in Tijeras, more than 15 miles east of Albuquerque, authorities said.
According to the complaint, the landlord said he knew the family of four who lived there. After hearing the gunshots, he tried to text them but received no response, court documents said. He also tried honking his vehicle’s horn to get their attention, but nobody came outside.
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Once there, deputies found Mestre, who was coming out of the home, court documents said. He allegedly had a handgun and a second magazine loaded with ammunition.
While being detained by deputies, Mestre uttered something to the effect of, “I killed them and was going bury them,” the complaint said.
In the home, deputies saw blood transfer patterns consistent with drag marks and “mopping/cleaning,” the document said. Deputies also saw a bloody knife and a meat tenderizer near the front door.
In a small arroyo about 50 yards northeast of the residence, deputies found the victims’ bodies lying face down with apparent gunshot wounds. It also appeared they had been stabbed, the complaint said.
At the police station, authorities said in the complaint that Mestre wrote notes on a police officer’s tablet that included times of what he said were “seismic waves” and how he shot at cell towers and had thermal imaging on his house.
The suspect, who police noted in the complaint that he had blood on his hands, shirt and shoes, allegedly confessed to killing his dad in the living room and his mother as she came down the stairs. It was not clear from the complaint when Mestre allegedly killed his sister. He said he dragged them outside to bury them in the ravine and tried to clean up with a mop before he was interrupted by responding deputies, court documents said.
He also admitted to shooting the family dog, saying it was “ravenous,” the document said. Authorities said they found a dog with at least one gunshot wound on the property.
The charges of escape from police custody and criminal damage to property came about, authorities said, when the suspect was in custody. While the officer was completing booking paperwork, Mestre punched and kicked a wall in the interview room and escaped through the hole he made in the wall before detectives chased him down, court documents said.
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