Officials investigating double homicide at El Prado trailer park

Updated Feb. 25 at 5:30 p.m.

The Taos County Sheriff's Office, Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office and New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator are looking into the suspected murder of two Taos women at a trailer park in El Prado Monday (Feb. 24).

Deputies in Rio Arriba arrested 27-year-old Cesar Garcia of Taos earlier in the day Monday in Española on charges of first-degree murder and theft of a motor vehicle. Garcia is accused of fatally stabbing a man outside a laundromat near the Ohkay Owingeh Travel Center and driving a stolen vehicle police say may have belonged to one of the victims in the El Prado double homicide case. However, charges had not been filed in the Taos County incident as of Tuesday evening.

According to a press release from Taos County Sheriff Steve Miera, deputies received a welfare check call and were dispatched to a mobile home at Valencia Trailer Park, located off State Road 522 in El Prado, several miles north of the Town of Taos on Monday.

Upon arrival at the mobile home, deputies discovered the bodies of two women identified as 34-year-old Ashley Casias and 39-year-old Anastasia "Stacy" Romo, both of Taos. Deputies determined the women had "suffered multiple gunshot wounds" and dispatched the Office of the Medical Investigator for further examination. It was unclear as of press time when the alleged murders took place.

The Taos County Sheriff's Office was later contacted by the Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office, who reported deputies had taken Garcia into custody in Española after suspecting him of being in possession of a vehicle belonging to one of the victims.

“I called the police last night, but I wasn’t here,” said Rosie Suazo, the property manager who rents spaces for the trailers at the park. “[My family takes] turns and I was taking care of my mom. She’s 95 years old. So, it was my turn to stay over there, but my niece called me about five in the morning, so I called the police and they said they couldn’t give me any information because it was still under investigation.”

Around 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Garcia was arrested in Rio Arriba County near the Ohkay Owingeh Travel Center. According to a criminal complaint, the victim Garcia allegedly stabbed was identified as Anthony Velasquez.

“This individual stabbed and killed another male in the parking lot of the laundromat,” Major Lorenzo Aguilar of the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office said. “This was yesterday afternoon, about 1:30 in the afternoon.”

Police were dispatched to the Ohkay Owingeh Travel Center and were advised that a man wearing a red hoodie took off running across Highway 68, according to the criminal complaint. When Rio Arriba Sheriff’s Deputy Patrick Martinez arrived, he found the victim on the ground in front of the laundromat beside the travel center.

“It was unlawful taking of a motor vehicle because the vehicle he tried to carjack from another person, he took off running from the scene there at the laundromat,” Aguilar said. “But he failed in that attempt and subsequently, he is being charged for that.”

Sheriff Miera said the investigation is ongoing and as of Tuesday. Aguilar was unable to confirm whether Garcia is a a suspect in the El Prado incident. Garcia is currently detained at the Rio Arriba County’s Detention Center.

This is a developing story.