APD: Neighbors saw affair before murder

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A horrific shooting in northeast Albuquerque ended with one man dead outside his home Tuesday morning and by later that day, his killer found dead inside his car just outside Mora.

Police say the series of tragic events Tuesday were sparked by an apparent love triangle.

APD officers responded to the home on Hendola Drive NE where they found Greg Miller shot to death outside his garage door.

One neighbor who witnessed the shooting told investigators he saw a man shoot Miller and then walk next door, get into a turquoise green Jeep Cherokee and drive away.

That vehicle belonged to Miller’s next door neighbors, Wesley Brannon and Brannon's recently estranged wife, Katherine Sampson.

According to the complaint neighbors told investigators that Sampson had been having an affair with Miller for “some time.”

"She'd be next door and I thought they were brother and sister at one time, just having coffee out there early in the morning," said Brannon's next-door neighbor Martin Griego. "They seemed happy." 

Around 10:30 a.m. police learned that Brannon had sent a text message to a coworker confessing to shooting Miller “28 times.” When the friend informed Brannon that police were looking for him, he responded saying that this was a suicide mission.

Several hours later investigators contacted Sampson who was staying at her cabin in Mora County about 45 miles north of Las Vegas.

Sampson told investigators that she had received a call from Miller around 6:20 a.m., 10 minutes before the shooting apparently took place, telling her that Brannon was inside her home.

The complaint adds that Brannon had moved out of the home the estranged couple shared a month earlier.

While on the phone with investigators Brannon showed up at the front door of Sampson’s Mora cabin. Sampson told police she saw a gun in Brannon’s front waistband.

She apparently tried to grab the gun from Brannon, but he resisted telling her the gun was “his way out” before walking away.

Officers were then able to safely remove Sampson from the cabin.

Police say Brannon later returned to the cabin where he crashed into a Mora County deputy’s car at which time both State Police and sheriff’s deputies started to fire at his car.

Officers attempted to get Brannon out of the car with verbal commands, but he didn't respond. When they approached Brannon’s car they found him dead.

State Police are still investigating whether Brannon was killed by the officers’ gunfire or if he died by his own hand.