Authorities say a 24-year-old man is in custody and facing several charges, including three open counts of murder, after admitting to Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputies that he killed his father, mother and sister on Oct. 13.
BCSO Sheriff John Allen held a press conference in Albuquerque Monday to share some details about the case, which he compared to the Nehemiah Griego case in 2013.
Allen said Adlai Mestre confessed to killing his family after three people were found dead in a ravine in Tijeras.
Griego received a life sentence after he shot and killed his parents and three younger siblings when he was 15 years old.
Mestre is facing three open counts of murder in the first degree, five counts of tampering with evidence, one count of extreme cruelty to animals, one count of escape from the custody of a peace officer, and one count of criminal damage to property.
Allen said deputies found Mestre’s father, Raymundo, 46, mother, Bertha, 51, and 17-year-old sister, Breille, dead in a ravine about 50 yards from the house where they found Mestre. Allen also said a dog “was shot several times within the residence.”
Allen said BCSO deputies responded to 55 Young Road around 2:14 p.m. Sunday after the landlord who lived next door to the home reported hearing gunshots.
BCSO deputies found Mestre about 45 minutes later with a gun, ammo, and covered in blood. While Mestre was being detained, he said he killed his family and was going to bury them, according to Allen.
Allen said Mestre began making statements about killing his family, and a handgun was found in his possession. Deputies found a large amount of blood inside the residence but no other people. Deputies found a knife and a meat tenderizer hammer near the front door of the home with what appeared to be blood on them, Allen said.
“Adlai continued to make excited utterances and statements to deputies before detectives arrived,” Allen said. “And once detectives arrived, they considered Adlai was making delusional statements. He also revealed three family members were lying in a ravine around the residence.”
After being detained, Mestre wrote notes mentioning “seismic waves” and detailing how he shot at cellular towers that had thermal imaging on his house. He also was able to briefly escape the interview room after he punched and kicked a hole in the wall, according to court documents.
The investigation is ongoing, with autopsy results from the Office of the Medical Investigator still pending.
“This is fresh, this is new, there’s a lot to unpack here. OMI is still conducting an autopsy, so we’re still finding out numerous other details towards the bodies and the decedents,” Allen said. “One of the first things I’d like to say is condolences to the family and everybody in the community. Any time we have a death in the community, no matter what the circumstances, that is someone’s family member, so it’s always difficult for our personnel, for our community and our detectives.”
Allen, who was a detective on the 2013 Griego case, said this tragedy highlights systemic issues, including the need for better mental health and implementation of the state’s red flag law, which allows people – usually police officers and family members – to petition a judge for an emergency order that would temporarily remove firearms from a person found to be at risk of harming themselves or someone else.
“There’s a lot to unpack here, and I will tell you what we know thus far is we know that the 60-day legislative session is coming up, and there’s a lot of concern in this case. We have to figure out something to make sure that the system is not failing our community,” Allen said. “This is going to be an example of a case, unfortunately, with three deaths that’s going to be utilized, and we’re going to be talking about Red Flag Law, we’re going to be talking about competency, we’re going to be talking about extreme animal cruelty and so many other things.”
Allen said there had been three calls for service to the house before that family moved there. While Mestre was there, there was one call for service coming from his mom for a stolen vehicle.
Allen said Mestre went to Haven Behavioral Hospital of Albuquerque in the past year for an undisclosed reason but had “no homicidal or suicidal ideations.” He also said the gun that was used was obtained by the family legally.
“The problem that I’m having just with the preliminary information that I have is if you went to get a mental health evaluation, even if you didn’t have any homicidal or suicidal ideations, there needs to be some type of recognition within the system or notification of law enforcement that there are firearms in this house,” Allen said. “This is where the red flag law does come in, and where it does fail. It’s keeping our hands tied. I am not saying that the red flag law would prevent this triple homicide, but it would at least give an indication for detectives to do follow up to make sure that we are doing everything within our power to make sure that a homicide or a suicide does not happen.”
