NORTHERN NEW MEXICO
Santa Fe man charged with fatally stabbing mother at Rancho Viejo home
Police use forensic evidence to match bloody footprint, fingernail clipping to suspect
SANTA FE 鈥� A Santa Fe man is facing murder and other charges in connection with the fatal stabbing of his mother over the weekend at the home they shared in the Rancho Viejo de Santa Fe housing development.
Deven Josiah Roybal, 26, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder, assault with intent to commit a violent felony and tampering with evidence in the killing of 50-year-old Jennifer Vigil.
Santa Fe County Sheriff鈥檚 deputies identified the woman in the kitchen of her Johnson Mesa home on Sunday after Vigil鈥檚 mother discovered the remains. The mother initially misidentified them as Roybal鈥檚 during a 911 call.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed Tuesday in Santa Fe Magistrate Court, Vigil was in a fetal position and her face was partially covered. The court document noted that the woman鈥檚 blue Ford Fusion was missing from the home.
Roybal鈥檚 brother, who is under a restraining order to avoid the home, also contacted law enforcement over the weekend, repeating the false report that Roybal had been killed after speaking with Vigil鈥檚 mother.
Police ruled out the brother as a suspect after interviewing him about the incident and his whereabouts prior to his mother鈥檚 death.
During a search of Vigil鈥檚 home, an investigator with the state Office of the Medical Investigator confirmed stab wounds to Vigil鈥檚 back, abdomen and forearm, according to the affidavit.
Investigators also found a large kitchen knife with blood and hair on it, as well as a bloody shoeprint on a kitchen tile and a fingernail clipping nearby. Two cameras inside the residence had also been disconnected, a sheriff鈥檚 office detective noted, and a journal believed to belong to Vigil contained a final handwritten entry dated March 19.
During their investigation, deputies learned the San Juan County Sheriff鈥檚 Office had arrested Roybal on Saturday morning near Farmington, roughly 200 miles northwest of Santa Fe, for DWI and driving with an invalid license in Vigil鈥檚 Ford vehicle.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for Roybal鈥檚 detainee property box, where they discovered Nike shoes with a zigzag tread pattern they say matches the footprint found in the kitchen where Vigil died.
They also took photos of Roybal鈥檚 hands, which had two broken fingernails they believe to be consistent with the clipping discovered in the home.
In a separate case last month, Roybal was charged with battery against a household member and interference with communications related to an altercation with his mother. A competency evaluation was ordered in that case for Roybal, who family members said suffers from schizophrenia and was also a drug user.
John Miller is the Journal鈥檚 northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.
