New details help APD solve cold case

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - There were a lot of pieces to the puzzle, but APD detectives were able to put them all together to solve a murder that happened 25 years ago.

Tuesday the police chief talked about how they tracked down Ronald Brewington Monday and arrested him for the murder of his wife.

Chief Ray Schultz says this is a unique case they were able to solve with a little bit of luck.

It all started in November when a friend of Diedre Brewington called APD wondering what happened to the case.

In august 1987, Diedre Brewington, 37, was found shot to death in her apartment near downtown on Coal and 10th.

Her ex-husband, Ronald Brewington was indicted on first degree murder but he had already vanished.

After interviewing more than 20 people across the country, detectives now know what he was up to over the past 25 years.

Brewington stole a man's identification and assumed the man's name.

In 2000, he was arrested in California, but got away before fingerprints gave police his real identity and showed he was wanted for murder.

He also had another scheme to land jobs at Starbucks, a steel company and even an aerospace firm.

“What he would do…he would meet woman that had younger children, get social security numbers of those children and use those social security numbers as he looked for employment. Eventually employer would say hey there's something wrong with you social security number,” Chief Schultz said.

Brewington has been married three times while on the run.

His last wife died recently of natural causes, and when police in Texas talked to him about it, he gave the same alias he'd used when he was arrested in California in 2000.

Because of the alias and fingerprints police knew it was Brewington.

Albuquerque police talked to his dead wife's family and that lead them to California.

After a manhunt in the bay area, police yesterday found Brewington playing his saxophone at a subway station in Oakland.

Police say Brewington had the same ID on him that he stole years ago.

Brewington will be extradited back to Albuquerque to face murder charges.