One Dead After Stabbing Near Laundry

​By Jennifer Garcia [email protected] Managing Editor
​Rio Grande Sun

One man was in jail and one man was dead Monday night after a stabbing that happened earlier in the day at the Ohkay Express Travel Center.

The Española/Rio Arriba County E-911 Center received a call at 2 p.m. from a woman who said a man, later identified as Anthony Velasquez, 32, was outside and had been stabbed in the chest; he was conscious and breathing at that time. Two minutes later, he lost consciousness. He possibly had multiple other stab wounds.

When Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s deputies arrived, he was unresponsive. 

Sheriff Billy Merrifield said Tuesday morning that Velasquez had been sitting in the backseat of his mother’s car in the Ohkay Owingeh Laundromat parking lot, with the door slightly open, while his mother did laundry.

“He (Cesar Garcia) was seen walking around the gas station and laundromat area,” Merrifield said. “He goes into the laundromat a couple of times and management told him to leave.”

He said witnesses told deputies that Garcia tried to get into a couple of secured vehicles while he was walking around. It’s suspected that he attempted to get into the car Velasquez was sitting in and an altercation took place, resulting in the stabbing. Merrifield said his deputies are going to pick up video surveillance soon, so they can get a better idea of what happened.

Following the stabbing, the caller said the suspected assailant, later identified as Garcia, 26, of Taos, ran off and was wearing a red jacket, cargo pants, white shoes and a tan baseball cap. He ran across the highway and fled southbound, the E-911 log said.

RASO Major Lorenzo Aguilar said people on scene had reported that Garcia was hanging around the area all day, asking people for money.

After he fled, Garcia was spotted running back toward the Ohkay Laundromat, then was seen running toward a house while being chased by two other men. He was eventually detained on Jackrabbit Trail.

A careflight had been called at about 2:12 p.m. to transport Velasquez, however, it was canceled at 2:18 p.m. because he “expired.”

After they caught up with him, deputies took Garcia into custody without incident. They recovered the knife he allegedly used to stab Velasquez in Garcia’s left, front pocket. The knife was collected for evidence.

Men who were working in a ditch nearby told deputies that while Garcia was on the run, he attempted to carjack them. An investigator with the Office of the Medical Investigator arrived and declared Velasquez’s time of death at 4:53 p.m.

Aguilar said a car that Garcia drove was recovered about 30 miles away from Ohkay Owingeh on Tuesday. He said video surveillance from the nearby Ohkay Casino helped deputies identify the vehicle.

Merrifield said Garcia may be a person of interest in a double homicide in Taos on Monday.
“I was contacted by the Taos County Sheriff’s Office,” he said. “They had a double homicide and there’s a possibility that he may be linked to that. Right now, he’s a person of great interest by Taos County Sheriff’s Office but it’s an ongoing investigation. It’s a good possibility he’s going to be a suspect.”

According to news reports, Ashley Casias, 34, and Anastasia “Stacy” Romo, 39, were found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in a mobile home on the north side of Taos. Taos County Sheriff’s deputies were doing a welfare check and found the women.
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Garcia has been charged with one count of first degree murder (willful and deliberate), a capital felony; and one count of attempt to commit a felony, to wit: Unlawful taking of a motor vehicle (first offense). He is being held in the Rio Arriba County Detention Center in Tierra Amarilla.