Families angered by recent violence demand change

Investigators with the Las Vegas Police Department searched for Lucero, too. Following leads, investigators located two suspects in Lucero’s disappearance. They soon learned she’d been beaten to death, her body then carelessly dumped in a pit where it was burned in an apparent attempt to dispose of evidence.

The news hit Lucero’s family hard. Lucero was a kind, loving person, they said. Someone who was always there for them. Her father, Anthony Sanchez, called Lucero his protector.

“Anything that’s ever happened to me, she was there for me,” Sanchez said. “She got along with everybody. She had friends everywhere. She helped out whoever needed help.”

Sanchez said he’ll miss hearing her laugh and beamed with joy as he thought about the things she enjoyed.

“She loved to draw. She loved to color,” he said. “She was just an outgoing, bright, beautiful, caring person.”

In late October, LVPD arrested Amber J. Archuleta, 28, and John T. Sanders, 24, in connection to Lucero’s death. Sanders told police that after purchasing some crack cocaine, Archuleta beat Lucero to death as he drove them to a ranch in Mora County, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Mora Magistrate Court. Sanders also admitted to helping Archuleta burn Lucero’s body.

Archuleta is charged with first-degree murder; Sanders is charged with kidnapping and conspiracy.

Lucero’s remains were sent to the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque so forensic evidence could be collected. So far, Lucero’s remains have not been released to her father, and he hasn’t been able to hold a burial or memorial service.

“It might be a month before I can bury her. It hurts every day. It gets harder and harder and harder. I’m in denial. I’m still waiting for her to walk through the front door,” Sanchez said, fighting back tears. “I’m still waiting for her to come home … I wish she was here.”

It’s a wish shared by Lucero’s aunt Alicia DeHerrera who said Lucero was “ripped away” from her family. Saddened by Lucero’s untimely death, DeHerrera wants to see changes within the police department, district attorney’s office and the City of Las Vegas that prevent other families from feeling the same pain and sorrow.

“It frustrates me so much that this small town is seeing so much violence,” DeHerrera said. “You see so much violence, but half of it gets swept under the rug because of who you know, or what you know.”

DeHerrera said there’s been a problem with drug addiction and the sale of illegal drugs in Las Vegas for years, but she feels the problem is escalating and becoming more violent. That violence not only claimed the life of Lucero, but left Lucero’s two children, ages 2 and 12, without a mother.

“With the holidays, that’s one less table setting. What is there really to celebrate?” DeHerrera said. “To have to explain (to children) they’re never going to have another birthday with her, never going to have another Christmas with her, it’s awful. To have to explain to children that these lowlifes took away their mother.”

DeHerrera said she knows her family isn’t the only one suffering and pointed to several recent cases where violence shattered other families.

In May, two enforcement service specialists located the body of 42-year-old Shana Storey hidden beneath a west side home, badly decomposed. Like Lucero, Storey had been reported missing as well. No arrests have been made in connection to her death.

In July, 16-year-old Adelina Tafoya was shot and killed, and two other teens shot and wounded, after two men fired multiple rounds at the car they were in after mistaking the car for that of a rival drug dealer, according to court records. Two men are in custody, both charged with first-degree murder.

In September, the body of 37-year-old Colin Gonzales was found in an alleyway. Surveillance video showed him getting into a parked car where he was shot. One man is awaiting trial for first-degree murder in Gonzales’ death.

And just last month, 33-year-old Cristal Cervantes and her 89-year-old grandfather, Victor Cervantes, were shot and killed in their home. Alejandro Alirez, 23, has been charged with first-degree murder in their deaths. He is awaiting a competency hearing.

Alirez streaming part of the slayings live on Facebook, something Cristal Cervantes’ uncle Artie Martinez said he witnessed as it streamed. Martinez feels too much of the recent violence is tied to drug use, and said he’d like to see city and county leaders do more to address addiction and illegal drug sales in the area.

“Las Vegas needs to do something. San Miguel (County) needs to do something,” he said. “And the cops need to step it up a little bit — not let people slide just because they’re informants. Because they’re letting the informants get away with a lot.”

DeHerrera also feels that too often, suspects in violent cases get out of jail easily.

“These two that were responsible for my niece’s death, they’re not strangers to the inside, and neither was the guy that killed Artie’s niece. How come they’re getting out? They’re using the excuse of mental illness, they’re using the excuse of drugs or they weren’t in their right mind,” she said. “They’re obviously in and out for a reason. They’re not considering doing better. They’re just telling the judges what they want to hear so they can get out and do the same s*** again. It’s ridiculous.”

Fourth Judicial District Attorney Richard Flores acknowledged the prevalence of substance abuse in the community, and said that addiction harms many people beyond the person with the addiction. The solution, Flores said, is not simple and requires resources like diversion programs, employment opportunities and treatment options.

“With each addict, there is a loving family that is, in most cases, an unwilling participant to the addiction and the consequences,” Flores said. “A mother, father, wife, husband or child — each suffers when the addict causes pain to himself or others.”

Flores said his office will continue to prosecute criminal offenders and hold them accountable, particularly violent offenders, but said recent Supreme Court rules have made it more difficult to incarcerate defendants.

“The rules remind us that an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and as such, the new rules lean towards letting people out of jail until such time that they are convicted,” he said. “This can be extremely frustrating from a prosecutors point of view, especially when the defendants have a propensity of violence. The Supreme Court has adopted rules, though, that we must follow.”

In the cases of those charged in Lucero’s death, Flores’ office has successfully petitioned the court to hold Archuleta and Sanders until trial. While a relief for Sanchez, he still would like to see police and city leaders do more to prevent young people from dying because of drugs.

“Most of these young girls, they had problems with their families, problems with their kids, and the minute they give them this drug it’s like giving them a gun and saying, ‘Shoot yourself,’” Sanchez said. “I just wish they’d take this seriously before there’s more death. We don’t need other families to suffer the way we’re suffering.”