Gov. Susana Martinez is among the officials seeking the quick extradition of a man suspected of killing five family members in their southern New Mexico home and fleeing the country.
The governor's office said Tuesday that Martinez has been in close contact with the governor of Sonora, Mexico, as federal officials work with Mexican authorities to bring back Juan David Villegas-Hernandez as soon as possible.
Villegas-Hernandez was taken into custody by Sonora state police on Sunday — a day after police in Roswell, New Mexico, said the 34-year-old shot and killed his wife, Cynthia Villegas, and their four daughters — ages 14, 11, 7 and 3.
Martinez, a former prosecutor, was crushed by news of the killings and wants to ensure that the suspect is returned to New Mexico to face the full measure of the law, spokesman Mike Lonergan said Tuesday.
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"The governor asks all New Mexicans to pray for the beautiful girls and their mother whose lives were cut short by this monster," Lonergan said.
The bodies of the mother and four girls were discovered Saturday by family members who had stopped by their red-brick home on the north side of Roswell after not hearing from them for several days.
According to court documents, Cynthia Villegas had just asked her husband for a divorce. A criminal complaint filed in Chaves County Magistrate Court provided some details about an unhappy and unemployed husband worried about infidelity and a wife in fear of a man who had allegedly become controlling and threatening.
It was not immediately known whether he had a lawyer in New Mexico.
A large group of family members gathered outside the home on Monday. Cynthia Villegas' mother was crying and asking why.
Cynthia's brother, Lorenzo Rosalez of Earth, Texas, told the Roswell Daily Record that he will miss the daily texts from his sister and that his nieces were amazing.
"They were the best, you know. They were so smart and beautiful. I never saw them mad. I never saw them unhappy," he said.
Roswell authorities worked the crime scene late Saturday into Sunday. By that afternoon, Sonora police found the suspect's vehicle outside his family home in Arizpe. After fleeing in his vehicle, he led police on a foot chase into the hills and was eventually captured.
The U.S. Marshals Service is assisting Roswell police in the process of completing paperwork to extradite Villegas-Hernandez, who is facing five counts of first-degree murder in state district court.
In addition to working with Sonoran Gov. Claudia Pavlovich and federal officials, Martinez's office said she also has spoken with Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh and planned to meet with him Tuesday during her visit to the city.
