Missing New Mexico woman found dead, husband arrested in Kansas
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BELEN, N.M. – 50-year-old Rosalio Aguilera-Gamboa, who also goes by Lorenzo, faces charges for first degree murder, child abuse and tampering with evidence — all in connection to the shooting death of his wife, Karla Aguilera.
The Valencia County Sherriff’s Office said Lorenzo was arrested with his cousin in Garden City, Kansas on Saturday, where they both remain in custody.
According to detectives, Karla was last seen by her daughters on Sept. 4. Her youngest daughter woke up at home alone that morning and reportedly tried calling her mother 12 hours later. She told detectives Lorenzo answered the phone and said he and Karla were together at a hotel in Albuquerque.
When Karla did not come home two days later, her older daughters reported her missing.
“It appeared to us that it was suspicious by nature, so it ended up involving the Criminal Investigation Division,” Valencia County Detective Rashad Pearson said during a press conference Monday morning. “We had information during the investigation that there may be some ties in the area of Mountainair.”
Pearson said the Torrance County Sheriff’s office found a body there on Sept. 14. According to the criminal complaint, an autopsy confirmed it was Karla and that she had been shot four times.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo was nowhere to be found. The document details how detectives discovered he called in sick to work on Sept. 6, then did not show up on Sept. 7.
“There’s indicators that he was directly involved in that in that crime,” Pearson said.
According to the criminal complaint, detectives used cell phone data to place Lorenzo at the scene of the crime in the early morning hours of Sept. 5, then eventually Garden City, Kansas—his last known location. That is where he and his cousin were taken into custody Sept. 17.
Pearson said both Lorenzo and his cousin are being held in Kansas without bond for multiple felony charges. They will be extradited to New Mexico at some point, but it depends on the investigation.