Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Latest New Mexico news, sports, business and entertainment at 3:20 p.m. MDT

  • AIRPORT BODIES

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man accused in the beating death of a New Jersey resident he claimed sexually abused him as a child has been charged with killing his ex-wife and two others in New Mexico in what investigators call a complicated case spanning multiple states. The charges Friday come after investigators searched a house where Sean Lannon, his ex-wife and their children lived in the city of Grants along with storage units and other locations. The remains of Jennifer Lannon, two of her friends and an Albuquerque man were found earlier this month inside a vehicle at an Albuquerque airport parking garage. Charges related to the death of the Albuquerque man have yet to be filed.

  • AIRPORT BODIES-VICTIMS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Jennifer Lannon loved her children, though she lost custody of them because of her struggle with prescription drug use. Matthew Miller was especially fond of his pets and had run-ins with police as he faced an opioid addiction. Their decomposing bodies were found along with that of their equally troubled friend Jesten Mata and another man inside a truck at a New Mexico airport parking garage. The gruesome discovery this month touched off a nationwide manhunt for Lannon's ex-husband in a strange case stretching from New Mexico to New Jersey that has raised questions of possible serial killings and left grieving loved ones trying to understand what happened.

  • VIRUS OUTBREAK EDUCATION REENTRY

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An analysis by the The Associated Press shows that 5% of New Mexico students from kindergarten through grade 8 are walking through school doors full time. The national average for a similar age group was around to 45% in February. A recent national survey found that the majority of Black and Hispanic students must attend school remotely, while most white students can attend in person. New Mexico isn't tracking in-person learning by race. The state education department says it's working to get all students access to full-time in-person learning by April 5, and that the vast majority of educators have gotten at least one vaccine dose.

  • CRIMINAL COMMITMENT-RULING

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court has upheld a district court decision to extend the criminal commitment of a Las Vegas, New Mexico man placed in a mental institution after he was accused of killing his roommate in 2003. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Thursday that psychiatrists have told different judges over the years that Ricky Quintana, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, could not to stand trial because of his mental illness. He was committed to the state Behavioral Health Institute. A judge ruled in 2017 that Quintana still presented a danger to the community and extended his commitment five years. The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed the decision. 

  • IMMIGRATION-BORDER EPICENTER

ROMA, Texas (AP) — A small border town in Texas' Rio Grande Valley has become the latest epicenter of illegal crossings, where growing numbers of families and children enter the United States to seek asylum. Within an hour of darkness Wednesday, about 100 people have been ferried in rafts across the Rio Grande and into the U.S. in Roma, including many families with toddlers and children as young as 7 traveling alone. They wear numbered wristbands that say "deliveries" in Spanish, apparently a way for smugglers to keep track of them. U.S. authorities have reported more than 100,000 encounters on the southern border in February, the highest since a four-month surge in 2019. 

  • BIDEN-BORDER MIGRANTS

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will take steps to more quickly move hundreds of migrant children and teens out of cramped detention facilities along the Southwest border. That from President Joe Biden Thursday as he pushed back against suggestions that his administration's policies are responsible for the rising number of people seeking to cross into the country. Biden was pressed repeatedly on the situation at the border at his first news conference since taking office. He cited a series of measures such as opening space at a Texas Army base for about 5,000 unaccompanied minors, to address the issue. But he also sought to portray the rise in migrants as little different from seasonal increases in the past. 

  • VIRUS OUTBREAK-NAVAJO NATION

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — The Navajo Nation on Thursday reported nine new COVID-19 cases and eight additional deaths. The latest numbers pushed the tribe's numbers to 30,031 cases and 1,243 known deaths since the pandemic began. The Navajo Nation had a soft reopening last week with 25% capacity for some businesses under certain restrictions. Still, mask mandates and daily curfews remain on the vast reservation that covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.  

  • AIRPORT BODIES

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police in Albuquerque say a man wanted for questioning in the disappearances of three people from Grants last month has been arrested on a warrant. Albuquerque police say 45-year-old Daniel Lemos was taken into custody Thursday by the U.S. Marshals Service. Grants police say they want to question Lemos in the disappearances of 39-year-old Jennifer Lannon, 40-year-old Jesten Mata and 21-year-old Matthew Miller because he knew the victims. The three were found dead March 5 in a vehicle in a parking garage at Albuquerque International Sunport along with 60-year-old Randal Apostalon in Apostalon's truck. Grants police first identified Lemos as a person of interest in late February, before the bodies were found at the airport.