A New Mexico woman who tried to blame her teenage son for a murder she committed pleaded guilty this week to second degree murder with a firearm enhancement.
According to prosecutors, Elizabeth Ortiz-Chavez, 49, set up a fight between her then-16-year-old son, Angelo Baldonado, and another 16-year-old, Josue Ruiz, Law&Crime reported. Reportedly, Baldonado’s pregnant sister, who was dating Ruiz, told the family that Ruiz hit her.
Ruiz was shot and killed during the March 2022 altercation, and Baldonado was charged as an adult with murder.
But a year later, Baldonado’s brother told a woman on Facebook what really happened that night, and that woman spoke with police.
“She advised me that during their conversations (Baldonado’s brother) did advise her that Angelo and his mother, Elizabeth Ortiz-Chavez, had gone to fight Josue and that Josue tried to pull a gun on them and that he got shot before (Baldonado) could take out his gun, but that detectives had charged his brother with the murder,” the criminal complaint said. “(The brother) also disclosed that the ‘crazy part about it’ was that his brother is not ‘telling’ on his mom.”
The brother was frustrated with the way Baldonado and his mother were handling things.
“I have an older brother locked up because of her,” he told the woman. “ … I hate her for what she did. He deserves to be home with his daughter. She’ll never know him at all because she’s a selfish b*****.”
“She’s the worst of the worst.”
Prosecutors say Ortiz-Chavez wanted Baldonado to take the fall because she thought he’d get a lesser sentence because he was a minor.
Baldonado’s murder charge was dropped, but he was still convicted on assault and conspiracy to commit murder charges and sentenced to four years in prison.
Ortiz-Chavez faces up to 18 years in prison when she is sentenced. A date for that sentencing has not been set, KQRE said.
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[Featured image: Elizabeth Chavez-Ortiz/Metropolitan Detention Center]
