Woman found dead on Los Lunas street; suspicious death

LOS LUNAS — The Los Lunas Police Department is continuing its investigation into the suspicious death of a 35-year-old woman found lying in the street.

Officers were dispatched for a welfare check to Coronado Lane at about 6 a.m., Friday, Nov. 21, after a witness called 911 to report a woman lying on the ground.

“We arrived shortly after the call and found her deceased,” LLPD Chief Frank Lucero said. “We are investigating this as a suspicious death and have partnered with the New Mexico State Police crime processing team. They are helping with a 3D reconstruction of the scene.”

Lucero said officers conducted a safety sweep of the woman’s home and found no risks. The woman’s next-of-kin have been contacted and are helping with the investigation, he said.

In an interview Monday, Lucero said the investigation is ongoing and the department are awaiting autopsy results and toxicology reports, among others, from the New Mexico Office of Medical Investigator.

“Our investigators are still following up on leads and we are working to get access to her cell phone for more information,” Lucero said. “We obtained and served warrants at her home and processed the scene.

“Until we get results back from OMI, we’re in a bit of a holding pattern. As I said, we are following up on leads,” the chief added. “At this point, it is still a suspicious, and our investigation is very preliminary.”

The chief extended the departments sympathies to the woman’s family and friends.

“Our hearts go out to the family. This is such a tragic situation, especially right before the holidays,” Lucero said. “We want to thank the neighbors for being patient while we investigated and had the street closed. We want to do a quality investigation and give the family answers.”