Missing New Mexico woman found dead, husband arrested

By Faith Egbuonu

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    VALENCIA COUNTY, New Mexico (KOAT) — Valencia County Sheriff’s Office held a news conference surrounding details of Karla Aguilera’s, 37, death Monday.

Her husband, Rosalio Aguilera-Gamboa, 50, and Maria Guadalupe Nevarez Aguilera, 50, are currently in Finney County Jail in Garden City, Kansas.

“We need to tie up some ends in Garden City and determine the extradition date,” said Valencia County Sheriff Denise Vigil. “Then we will bring them back into New Mexico.”

Police said Aguilera-Gamboa is accused of killing his wife, Karla Aguilera.

According to the criminal complaint, Karla’s daughter reported her mother missing on Sept. 6. She told police her stepfather, Aguilera-Gamboa, took her mother to a hotel two days prior, but he refused to share further details.

Aguilera-Gamboa later returned without Aguilera, took his belongings and left.

“I will say, the last time her family saw her was on Sept. 4 and when she did not return home, she was reported missing on Sept. 6,” Vigil said. “The detectives did review the report and found that it was under suspicious circumstances that she was missing. So, they continued to follow up on some leads — and the further they investigated, the more suspicious they became of her husband.”

According to police, Aguilera’s body was discovered in Torrance County on Highway 60 near Mountainair.

“They did use New Mexico State Police Air Support unit to do a grid of the area, and the following day Torrance County called us and stated that a body had been located in their county,” Vigil said.

According to police, this isn’t Aguilera-Gamboa’s first run-in with the law.

“We do have a couple of instances documents. One, I believe, was back in 2019, and one was just as recent as last month,” Vigil said. “Another incident was reported, and she was directed to resources to assist her and the relationship, which is usually our shelter service communications. We did do what we needed to do to get her in touch with those resources, but that’s the only last two instances that we have recorded in our system at this time.”

Court documents reveal Aguilera (Karla) and Aguilera-Gamboa had a violent relationship. Rosalio reportedly tried to strike Karla with a motor vehicle after she confronted him with evidence of infidelity.

Police said details surrounding second suspect, Maria Guadalupe Nevarez Aguilera’s, arrest is still under investigation. However, Nevarez-Aguilera has been charged with accessory to murder in the 1st degree and harboring or aiding a felon.

Aguilera-Gamboa has been charged with murder in the 1st degree, abuse of a child and tampering with evidence.

The case is still under investigation.

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