Couple wanted in Albuquerque murder arrested in southern Colorado

May 24—A couple is charged in the shooting death of a man last month at an apartment complex off East Central.

Jacob Romero, 26, and Euphemia Rivas, 27, each face an open charge of murder in the April 19 killing of 31-year-old Alexander Deherrera.

Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said Rivas and Romero were arrested Tuesday by U.S. Marshals in Alamosa, Colorado. He said they would be taken to Albuquerque and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Court records show Romero has been arrested multiple times on drug and car theft charges since 2017.

Romero entered a drug court program in February as part of a plea deal in a 2023 case in which he was found with 40 fentanyl pills in his shoe, according to court records.

Court records show that on April 18, Romero was fired from drug court after repeated violations; officers smelled fentanyl during a home visit, Romero failed a drug test, and he refused to report for additional drug testing or rehab.

“The whereabouts of Romero are currently unknown,” according to the breach report.

Two days later, police were called around 9 p.m. to a double shooting at the Cinnamon Tree Apartments near Louisiana and Central. Police found Deherrera fatally shot inside a vehicle and Rivas' sister shot and wounded.

The sister told police that Deherrera was selling drugs to Rivas when he rushed to the vehicle and said, “We have to go,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. She said Rivas ran to the car and asked for the fentanyl pills, but Deherrera first demanded money for the pills.

Police said the sister told them a man — later identified as Romero — approached with a double-barrel shotgun and Rivas said, “shoot them.” Deherrera was shot in the back and Rivas' sister was hit in the arm.

Rivas' father, who lives in the same complex, told police that Romero knocked on his door asking for a ride and, when the father told him no, he ran away, according to the complaint . A few days later, police learned that Rivas was in Chama and had told people she had shot Deherrera and her sister.

Police said Rivas told people she was going to flee to Texas. Detectives were able to identify Romero as the suspect through his tattoos, documented during his incarceration, and Rivas' father and sister picked him out of a photo lineup.