Ernestina’s Final Warning

0:00 Speaker 1: The faded missing person posters fluttered against telephone polls across Albuquerque,

0:05 Speaker 1: New Mexico. Under the harsh October sun. The smiling face

0:09 Speaker 1: of sixty nine year old Ernestina Lucero stared out at

0:12 Speaker 1: passing strangers, her kind eyes frozen in time beneath the

0:16 Speaker 1: bold black letters. Missing for nearly two weeks, her family

0:21 Speaker 1: had searched desperately for answers. Neighbors whispered theories from their porches.

0:26 Speaker 1: Some believed she'd run away with an old boyfriend, others

0:30 Speaker 1: feared something far darker. But inside a cluttered apartment on

0:33 Speaker 1: the west side of the city, the truth sat hidden

0:36 Speaker 1: in silence, waiting, and on the morning of October twenty eighth,

0:40 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, Albuquerque police unknowingly stepped straight toward it.

0:45 Speaker 1: It began with a welfare check. A care worker who

0:49 Speaker 1: managed Ernestina's medical assistance program contacted authorities after receiving a

0:53 Speaker 1: disturbing phone call from Ernestina's son, forty nine year old

0:57 Speaker 1: Leroy Vallejo. The conversation unsettled her immediately. Leroy seemed strangely

1:03 Speaker 1: focused on whether he would continue receiving payment for caring

1:06 Speaker 1: for his elderly mother, despite claiming she had disappeared days earlier.

1:11 Speaker 1: Something felt wrong, very wrong. When officers arrived at the

1:15 Speaker 1: apartment Ernestina shared with Leroy, the complex was quiet, except

1:19 Speaker 1: for barking dogs somewhere inside. They knocked repeatedly, announcing themselves

1:25 Speaker 1: no answer. The curtains remained shut. The officers turned instead

1:29 Speaker 1: to the neighbors, hoping someone had seen Ernestina recently. What

1:33 Speaker 1: they heard only deepen their concern. One neighbor explained that

1:37 Speaker 1: Leroy had been acting strangely ever since his mother vanished.

1:41 Speaker 1: He kept saying she went to Mexico with her boyfriend.

1:44 Speaker 1: The man told officers nervously, but then a few days

1:48 Speaker 1: later he tried selling her car for rent money. The

1:51 Speaker 1: dark gray Chevy Camaro parked nearby belonged to Ernestina, not Leroy.

1:56 Speaker 1: Another neighbor described loud, screaming matches coming from the apartment

2:00 Speaker 1: in the weeks before Ernestina disappeared. They were fighting bad.

2:04 Speaker 1: She said, like really bad. I got a two year

2:07 Speaker 1: old and I had to ask him to keep it down.

2:11 Speaker 1: He got aggressive when we complained. The officers exchanged glances.

2:16 Speaker 1: Nothing about the situation felt right. They returned to the

2:19 Speaker 1: apartment door and knocked harder this time, Leroy, you need

2:23 Speaker 1: to come out. Several long moments passed, then finally movement.

2:28 Speaker 1: The door cracked open, slowly, revealing Leroy Vallejo, disheveled, exhausted,

2:34 Speaker 1: paranoid eyes darting nervously between the officers. Sorry, man, he muttered,

2:41 Speaker 1: thought you were someone else. Inside. The apartment smelled stale

2:45 Speaker 1: and overcrowded. Dogs barked wildly as Leroy nervously invited the

2:50 Speaker 1: officers in. It's been a rough couple weeks, he explained.

2:54 Speaker 1: Mom's missing. I've been stressed, he claimed. Ernestina had disappeared

2:59 Speaker 1: around on October fifteenth. According to him, she'd likely gone

3:03 Speaker 1: away with an ex boyfriend named Jose. But as officers

3:07 Speaker 1: searched Ernestina's bedroom, the story immediately began falling apart. Her

3:12 Speaker 1: clothes still filled the dresser, prescription medications remained untouched. Personal

3:18 Speaker 1: belongings sat exactly where they should have been. Nothing suggested

3:22 Speaker 1: a woman preparing for travel. Meanwhile, in the living room,

3:27 Speaker 1: Leroy rambled endlessly. She's been around bad people, he claimed,

3:31 Speaker 1: people messing with me. The officers listened carefully. His speech

3:36 Speaker 1: was scattered disconnected, at times almost nonsensical, and then one

3:42 Speaker 1: sentence caught their attention. She thinks I'm crazy, Leroy muttered bitterly.

3:47 Speaker 1: But I never raised a hand to her. That wasn't true.

3:51 Speaker 1: Two years earlier, police had responded to the same apartment

3:55 Speaker 1: after Ernestina reported LeRoi had become violent during one of

3:58 Speaker 1: his paranoid episodes. Body camera footage from that incident painted

4:03 Speaker 1: a chilling picture. He thinks I'm a witch, Ernestina had

4:07 Speaker 1: whispered fearfully to officers back then. He keeps saying it

4:11 Speaker 1: over and over. She explained that Leroy accused her of

4:15 Speaker 1: practicing witchcraft and conspiring against him. During the confrontation, he

4:20 Speaker 1: allegedly shoved her onto a bed and threatened to choke her.

4:24 Speaker 1: One officer urged her to press charges. If you keep

4:27 Speaker 1: letting him back in, he warned grimly, he's going to

4:31 Speaker 1: hurt you, but Ernestina refused. Instead, she begged police to

4:36 Speaker 1: get her son's psychiatric help. He needs a mental hospital,

4:41 Speaker 1: she said, tearfully. I'm afraid one day he's going to

4:44 Speaker 1: kill me. Now, two years later, she was gone back

4:47 Speaker 1: in the apartment. One officer walked toward the kitchen while

4:51 Speaker 1: Leroy continued talking. The kitchen was filthy, rotting, food cluttered

4:56 Speaker 1: the counters, Trash overflowed onto the floor Near the the refrigerator.

5:01 Speaker 1: Random boxes and containers had been stacked awkwardly against the

5:05 Speaker 1: freezer door. Leroy noticed the officer approaching it. You can

5:09 Speaker 1: move that, he said quickly. Rat's been getting back there.

5:13 Speaker 1: The officer slowly shifted the clutter aside, then open the freezer.

5:18 Speaker 1: At first he saw only black trash bags, but beneath

5:21 Speaker 1: them a shaped human. The outline was unmistakable. For a

5:26 Speaker 1: split second, the officer froze, His stomach dropped. Every instinct

5:31 Speaker 1: screamed the same horrifying truth. He immediately shut the freezer,

5:36 Speaker 1: then calmly turned toward Leroy. Let's step outside outside. The

5:41 Speaker 1: atmosphere changed instantly. Leroy was handcuffed beside the patrol car

5:45 Speaker 1: as officers secured the scene. Then, almost casually, Leroy spoke,

5:50 Speaker 1: She's in the freezer. The officers stared at him in disbelief.

5:55 Speaker 1: I know, one replied quietly. Crime scene investigators soon arrived.

6:01 Speaker 1: Even seasoned detectives struggled to process what they found inside

6:05 Speaker 1: the freezer. Sat Ernestine's body wrapped tightly in black trash bags.

6:10 Speaker 1: The elderly woman, who had once begged police to save

6:13 Speaker 1: her son from himself, had spent weeks hidden in silence

6:16 Speaker 1: just feet from where he slept. As investigators processed the apartment,

6:21 Speaker 1: Leroy sat in the back of a patrol vehicle, apologizing

6:24 Speaker 1: softly to his dogs. I'm sorry, guys, he whispered repeatedly.

6:29 Speaker 1: Hours later, detectives began interrogating him. At first, Leroy spoke

6:35 Speaker 1: in circles, consumed by bizarre delusions about witches, demons, and conspiracies.

6:41 Speaker 1: He claimed his mother had spent years using witchcraft against him.

6:46 Speaker 1: She ruined my life, he insisted, she wanted me dead.

6:50 Speaker 1: Family members later confirmed Leroy had suffered severe paranoia for years,

6:55 Speaker 1: likely worsened by drug abuse and possible brain trauma from

6:58 Speaker 1: a horrific assault decade aids earlier. According to relatives, LeRoi

7:03 Speaker 1: had once been beaten nearly to death while hitchhiking in

7:06 Speaker 1: New Mexico. He suffered crushed hips, collapsed lungs, and what

7:10 Speaker 1: family believed was permanent brain damage. Afterward, his mental state

7:15 Speaker 1: deteriorated steadily. He began seeing demons, believing family members worshiped

7:20 Speaker 1: Satan claiming people were trying to steal his soul, and

7:24 Speaker 1: through it all, Ernestina continued caring for him until the

7:28 Speaker 1: day he killed her. Eventually, LeRoi confessed he admitted strangling

7:33 Speaker 1: his mother during an argument. As he described it, he

7:37 Speaker 1: sounded strangely detached. I asked her why she wouldn't leave

7:41 Speaker 1: me alone, he said, quietly, why she kept hurting me?

7:45 Speaker 1: Then came the revelation detectives never expected. This wasn't the

7:49 Speaker 1: first body. Years earlier, Ernestina's ex boyfriend, Jose Angelfrius, had

7:55 Speaker 1: mysteriously disappeared. LeRoi had previously claimed Jose moved away. Now

8:00 Speaker 1: he admitted something far darker. He confessed to shooting Jose

8:04 Speaker 1: while he slept, using a pillow as a makeshift silencer.

8:08 Speaker 1: The scream, LeRoi recalled blankly worst sound I ever heard.

8:14 Speaker 1: According to LeRoi, Ernestina entered the room after the gunshots.

8:18 Speaker 1: Instead of calling police, she allegedly helped him hide the crime.

8:22 Speaker 1: He claimed They dismembered Jose's body together using a reciprocating

8:26 Speaker 1: saw before storing him in the freezer. Investigators later recovered

8:31 Speaker 1: a saw beneath the kitchen sink stained with what appeared

8:34 Speaker 1: to be dried blood. But despite Leroi's horrifying confession, many

8:38 Speaker 1: details surrounding Jose's disappearance remain unverified To this day. Jose

8:43 Speaker 1: Angelfrias is still officially listed as a missing person. As

8:47 Speaker 1: the interrogation continued, Leroi's emotions shifted constantly between remorse and delusion.

8:54 Speaker 1: I loved my mom, he said, through tears, no matter

8:57 Speaker 1: what people say. Then moments lay, she had witchcraft on me.

9:02 Speaker 1: Detectives learned Leroy had continued using Ernestina's bank cards after

9:06 Speaker 1: her death, while attempting to collect payments tied to her care. Meanwhile,

9:11 Speaker 1: Ernestina's body remained hidden inside the apartment freezer the entire time,

9:16 Speaker 1: Neighbors passed by outside unaware. The case shocked Albuquerque, not

9:20 Speaker 1: simply because of its brutality, but because warning signs had

9:25 Speaker 1: existed for years. The frightened mother begging officers for help,

9:29 Speaker 1: the threats, the paranoia, the violence escalating slowly behind closed doors,

9:35 Speaker 1: and in the end, the very fate Ernestina feared became reality.

9:39 Speaker 1: Leroy Vallejo was charged with murder, tampering with evidence, and

9:44 Speaker 1: abuse of a resident resulting in death. However, after psychiatric evaluations,

9:50 Speaker 1: he was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial and committed

9:53 Speaker 1: to the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute for treatment. As

9:57 Speaker 1: for Jose Angelfrias, his disappear pearance remains unresolved, and somewhere

10:02 Speaker 1: beneath layers of delusion, grief, and horror lies a chilling question.

10:07 Speaker 1: Investigators may never fully answer how much of LeRoy's terrifying

10:12 Speaker 1: story was madness and how much of it was true