11 hours ago
Man accused of killing former tenant and dumping body in East Mountains
Jun. 19—An Albuquerque man is accused of beating his former tenant to death with a bat and dumping his body in the East Mountains, where it was found by detectives Thursday morning.
Derek DePalma, 40, was arrested Wednesday and was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center. He is charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and kidnapping.
Police have not identified the man who was killed.
Officers responded to a 911 call Wednesday afternoon about a resident who captured video of a fight between DePalma and a man on her security camera in the 500 block of Aztec NW, according to the criminal complaint. The woman said DePalma is seen striking the man in the head with a bat and loading him into the bed of a pickup truck.
The woman told police she saw the two arguing the morning before, and she knew the man, whom she described as "homeless," because she hired him to do yard work previously, the complaint states. Officers found DePalma's truck outside his home, which was across the street, with "what appeared to be blood" in the bed.
Detectives were able to watch the altercation on the security video, ending when the body was loaded into the truck, according to the complaint.
Officers arrested DePalma and spoke with his girlfriend, who said the couple had issues with the man, who was a tenant at the apartment complex the pair operated, the complaint states. She and DePalma had just evicted the man.
Using DePalma's cellular data, officers obtained records that showed his phone traveled east on Interstate 40 near the Cedar Crest area.
"Digital Intelligence investigators used information from phones to get a more precise location of where DePalma may have taken the victim's body," Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in a news release Thursday. "Investigators located the body this morning as the sun came up."
The body was found along Route 66, west of Sedillo Hill.
Gallegos said DePalma was initially charged with aggravated battery with great bodily harm based on the video evidence. He said "detectives are working with the District Attorney's Office to modify the charges" after the body was found.
