Bloody trail leads from body to NE home

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Albuquerque police obtained a search warrant late Thursday afternoon for a home near where a newspaper carrier making early morning rounds found a woman dead on the sidewalk.

The woman's name has not been released but police believe she is in her 20s or 30s. The carrier discovered the body around 4:30 a.m. at the corner of Chico Road and Chelwood Park Boulevard NE.

According to the search warrant affidavit officers found bloody shoe prints leading from the body to the house. Police found another woman and two small children inside the home, and they were taken into a police car.

It is unclear if they knew anything about the murder. Neighbors told police a lot of people go in and out of the house and that they suspect there may be drug activity there.

Blood was also found on a car parked in the driveway. It and another parked vehicle had been vandalized, according to the affidavit.

A newspaper delivery man found the woman's body just before 5 a.m. The man told investigators there was so much blood he didn't know at first if the person was a man or a woman.

She was already dead when paramedics arrived and investigators said she had been stabbed, beaten or bludgeoned. Police still do not know if the woman lived in the area.

"From what the officers on the scene stated, she appeared to be clean, well-kept," Officer Lorenzo Garcia said. "She did not look like somebody who was homeless."

Detectives closed down the entire neighborhood to search for clues and for any witnesses Thursday morning.

"My little dog woke me up about 4 o'clock, but I didn't think anything of it," neighbor Joe Mascarenas said. "She was barking, and I just told her to be quiet and she stopped.

"She started barking again, and then my wife got up and she said 'There's something going on outside.'"

Mascarenas remembered seeing a strange woman wandering on that street Wednesday, but he said the neighborhood is safe.

"We've never heard of neighbors complain of their homes being burglarized or their cars being broken into," Mascarenas continued. "We can leave our cars outside and nothing happens to them. It's a pretty quiet area other than the traffic."

APD said this is the city's 33rd homicide of the year. Anyone with information on the crime can call the Albuquerque Police Department at 242-COPS (242-2677).