APD charges John Paul Ballejos for 2022 double murder of his uncle and the uncle’s wife

ALBUQUERQUE – APD charged John Paul Ballejos for the 2022 double murder of his uncle and his uncle’s wife in their Barelas home.

Ballejos was already in jail on charges for a second, double murder that occurred in September 2022. Ballejos was charged last year for the shooting deaths of Daniel Humprey and Humprhey’s aunt, Sonia Tenorio.

Earlier that year, on May 8, 2022, police responded to a shooting at 910 8^th St., N.W. They discovered Hesiquio Cordova and Virginia Serna, who died as a result of gunshot wounds.

Families members suspected Ballejos may have killed the couple because Bellejos had been violent with his uncle in the past, and Serna filed several restraining orders aginst Ballejos. She also bought a firearm for protection, which was located near her following her death. Ballejos lived on-and-off at the home on 8^th Street.

Following the murders in September, detectives recovered the handgun Ballejos used in that shooting, as well as bullet casings. They compared the casings to the casings found after the murders in May, but the results were not conclusive.

However, the gun traced back to a purchase by Hesiquio Cordova Sr., who also lives at the 8^th Street address, in 2021. Detectives researched an unrelated Shotspotter activation from Dec. 31, 2021 at the home on 59^th Street, which was also the scene of the second, double murder in 2022. Ballejos was living at an apartment at that location when he was accused of those murders.

Detectives requested new comparisons of bullet casings from both murder scenes. The analysis concluded the casings from both scenes came from the same Taurus 9mm caliber handgun. With the new information, detectives were able to obtain an arrest for Ballejos for the murders of Cordova and Serna.

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