A New Mexico woman was gathering evidence to get a man imprisoned, but he found out about her efforts and murdered her, according to state authorities.
Vincent Galvan38, is charged with one count each of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, assault with a deadly weapon, vehicle theft and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office.
On May 12, agents found the decomposing body of Ricki L. White38, inside a van parked on an abandoned property on South Roosevelt Avenue 6, a few kilometers from the border with Texas.
The next day, the sheriff’s office had Galvan and another woman on its radar and requested public assistance in locating them.
On May 14, Galvan was arrested by local police after crossing into Farwell, a small town located in the Texas Panhandle.
According to the authorities, White was last seen alive on May 4. around 7:30 p.m. Investigators believe she was shot to death between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. on May 5. A cell phone said to have been lent to Galvan by another woman was traced to the crime scene during that same period, police reported.
Galvan remains detained in the Farwell jail and will be extradited to New Mexico once the case against him in Texas is resolved.
In the friend’s truck, police also recovered a 9mm handgun, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by The Jap New Mexico News. Police allege that the gun had blood on the frame and that The caliber matched that of a bullet recovered from White’s body..
As the investigation into White’s murder continued, authorities found “a folder with evidence that demonstrated… previous crimes” inside the truck where the woman was found.
Investigators now believe Galvan killed White because she was gathering evidence to use against him, and they pointed to several previous domestic disputes between the couple that were reported to police.
On one occasion, the couple is said to have pointed guns at each other. However, some of those disputes went unreported, according to police.
Besides, Galvan confessed to his friends that he killed White —his on-off girlfriend—because she “had been threatening him,” according to the affidavit.
Later, in a jailhouse phone call to his mother, Galvan repeated a version of that story, saying he knew a friend was setting him up for police to catch, authorities allege.
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