A 16-year-old boy has been accused of murdering four of his family members inside their home in rural New Mexico – before calling police to confess to the grisly crime.
New Mexico State Police said that Diego Leyva called 911 in the early hours of Saturday morning and told the dispatcher he had killed his family.
When officers arrived at the home in Belen at around 3:30 a.m., Diego emerged from the property “extremely intoxicated” and with his hands in the air, police said.
Inside the home, four family members – identified as Leonardo Leyva, 42, Adriana Bencomo, 35, Adrian Leyva, 16, and Alexander Leyva, 14 – were found dead from suspected gunshot wounds. A handgun was also found on the kitchen table.
The 16-year-old suspect was initially taken to a local hospital before he was booked into the Juvenile Justice Center in Albuquerque at around 1 a.m. Sunday.
He has since been charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
The teenager’s former teacher Vanessa LaGrange told The Guardian that “everyone’s in shock” about what had happened.
“I would never have thought that something like this would happen and that Diego would be capable of doing something like this,” she said.
The Valencia County Fire Department said in a statement on Facebook that Adriana Bencomo was an active volunteer firefighter with the Rio Communities Fire Department.
“Our brothers and sisters at RCFD are shocked and saddened by this loss as expected,” the department said, adding that a peer support team was available for its members.
