ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO: A New Mexico man murdered a transgender woman in late September, but the incident would not be looked upon as a hate crime as the duo were previously involved in a sexual relationship.
According to Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office jail records, Jose Juan Mendoza-Espinoza, 29, was arrested late in the evening on Wednesday, October 11.
He now faces charges related to one count of open murder and four counts of tampering with evidence over the death of Sherlyn Marjorie, 35.
An open murder count means law enforcement has yet to choose between murder in the first or second degree in an initial criminal complaint.
When was Sherlyn Marjorie reported missing?
On September 17, Marjorie was reported missing to the Albuquerque Police Department. On that night, she finished a show in Rio Rancho and was never heard from again, according to Telemundo Nuevo Mexico.
Her car was found on September 24 by her friends at Love’s truck stop on the far western outskirts of Albuquerque along Route 66.
A search party organized by friends and family was out looking for the missing woman on the night of September 25.
Her body was found early next morning near a ditch, authorities said. Deputies arrived in response to a call about a dead person around 1.20 am.
“The location and circumstances surrounding the discovery led investigators to treat the case as a homicide,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a press release issued Thursday.
Authorities executed search warrants and “meticulously analyzed surveillance footage” before centering on Mendoza-Espinoza as the primary suspect in the case.
What did Jose Juan Mendoza-Espinoza tell the authorities?
During questioning at the Sheriff’s Office, he allegedly told investigators he was in “a clandestine sexual relationship” with Marjorie and “compensating her for her silence regarding their relationship.”
It basically means that he told law enforcement he was being blackmailed by the woman he allegedly later killed.
According to CBS/Fox affiliate KRQE, after Mendoza-Espinoza had paid Marjorie an unspecified amount of money, she asked for an additional $5,000 and threatened to disclose their relationship to his wife if she wasn’t paid.
Officials said that the suspect beat the victim to death, tied her body, and dumped it in a drainage tunnel.
The sheriff’s office said evidence at Espinoza’s residence corroborated his confession and matched the established timeline of events.
“At this stage of the investigation, there is no evidence to suggest or reason to believe that this incident was a hate crime specifically targeting individuals in the transgender community,” the sheriff’s office said.
