GRANTS, NM – The City of Grants, New Mexico, was rocked by a homicide on Smith Street on May 15 in the afternoon. Police quickly apprehended a suspect who, according to multiple police reports of the incident, admitted to committing the murder. Police arrested Curtis Salazar and charged him with First Degree Murder (Willful and Deliberate), and Tampering with Evidence (Highest Crime a Capital, First- or Second-Degree Felony), Salazar remains in custody as of press deadline, according to court documents.
According to arrest reports, Salazar has a history with the victim in this crime. Salazar and the victim have been friends for an undisclosed amount of time, but because the victim identified as a homosexual, Salazar was bullied by his other friends. Weeks before the alleged murder, Salazar was hanging out with the victim and his boyfriend when hateful comments from friends allegedly triggered Salazar. According to interviews police did with witnesses, Salazar allegedly used a metal pipe to attack the victim and his boyfriend. Since that incident, the boyfriend stopped being friends with Salazar, but the victim continued the friendship.
On May 15, the victim went to Salazar’s house on Smith Street where the two planned on smoking meth together, according to police interviews with Salazar. When the victim arrived at the house, there were an undisclosed number of other people inside the home. One of the people who was at the house had earlier brought a machete inside, it was placed on the wall of Salazar’s bedroom, where the two had gone. According to the police report, Salazar became violent with the victim after he attempted to pull out his genitals. The situation spiraled out of control when Salazar grabbed the machete and allegedly began to attack the victim.
Salazar said that after several slashes with the machete, he went for the “Kill shot”, slashing the victim in the throat. At the time of the attack, according to the police report, there were “A handful of people” inside the house. Salazar told police that after the attack, he invited people in the house to go in the room and see the body. According to the police report, Salazar gave the weapon to a man identified only as “dog”.
Salazar told police that he attacked the victim because he was backed in a corner, but when police asked if the victim ever attacked Salazar, he said no, according to police reports.
As people scattered from the house, Salazar left and travelled to his parent’s house where he took a shower. According to the report, Salazar left his clothes in a grocery bag at his parents’ house. Throughout the course of the interview with GPD, Salazar used a number of anti-LGBT slurs and said that people would harass him for hanging out with the victim.
Officers were dispatched to Salazar’s Smith Street house around 9:20 p.m., a woman said she found the victim in-and-out of consciousness and that he had multiple cuts across his body. Officers arrived and began processing the crime scene.
GPD called New Mexico State Police to help process the crime scene, they received a search warrant from the 13th Judicial District Court and began to go through the property. Officers identified the victim, who will not be named by the newspaper at this time, and they quickly found a discarded, bloody machete behind the house by an old pickup truck. Officers worked around the clock doing investigative work, securing a search warrant for Salazar’s parent’s house and retrieving the bag of clothing he had left.
While investigators were going over evidence and securing search warrants, Salazar walked to Grants Police Department and introduced himself to the administrative assistants, wanting to explain to officers what happened. According to numerous police reports and court documents, Salazar was read his Miranda rights and was recorded confessing to the murder, peppering in anti-LGBT speech through the interview.
On April 17, Salazar was seen in the Cibola County Magistrate Court by Judge Tony Mace, who ordered pre-trial detention after a public safety assessment, and moved the case up to the 13th Judicial District Courtroom of Judge Amanda Sanchez Villalobos. Salazar is expected to be seen for a detention and preliminary hearing on May 31 an 8:30 a.m.