Victim found bound, gagged and beaten

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Santa Fe Police arrested a man they say called them admitting he beat his wife, tied her up and left her to suffer.

It happened Saturday morning on the 2700 block of Pazuela Serena.

Just after 5 a.m. police got a disturbing call from a man reporting a very violent crime in what is usually a quiet neighborhood, but they didn't expect the caller would also be the suspect until he said this.

"He told police that he bound and gagged and beat his wife and left he at her home," explained Santa Fe Police Sgt. Andrea Dobyns.

Police believe the man is Jose Armijo, 51, and the victim is his 44-year-old wife.

"She was tied up. She had been strangled, beaten, her whole shirt was covered in blood. She had cuts and bruises all over her body," said Sgt. Dobyns.

Investigators untied the woman and rushed her to the hospital. They reported her home was in disarray and there was blood everywhere. The woman told police her husband started beating her early Friday night and left her tied up and suffering for five to six hours.

Police say Armijo didn't stop there. They say he also stole his wife's car. They found it abandoned in a Wal-Mart parking lot on Cerrillos Road.

"We pulled surveillance video and you actually see Mr. Armijo exit the car urinate and then jump over a wall," Sgt. Dobyns explained.

It was a break they were looking for as detectives canvassed the area worried Armijo might return to the house and kill his wife.

They also got a tip he was near the Wal-Mart and arrested him at an apartment next door almost 24 hours after the alleged attack started.

Family told police the couple is separated and would argue, but did not understand what would provoke this kind of violence.

"We don't have any motive in this case," added Sgt. Dobyns. "We haven't been able to interview him, and our victim wasn't really able to interview because of her injuries."

The victim is expected to recover.

Armijo has a long criminal history dating back to the mid 1990's. Online court records show he has been convicted of robbery, multiple DWI's and Assaults.

Now he faces charges of aggravated assault and battery on a house hold member plus false imprisonment and charges for stealing a car.