Prosecutors seek to hold Jaramillo until trial From the Las Vegas Optic
The woman accused of lying about being kidnapped and leading police on a chase that ended with a deadly crash could be held without bond until trial.
Prosecutors in the First Judicial District filed a motion this week in Santa Fe Magistrate Court seeking pretrial detention for 46-year-old Jeannine J. Jaramillo, citing that she poses a danger to the community. The motion also reveals new details on the investigation into Jaramillo.
Jaramillo is charged with murder and multiple other charges relating to the deadly March 2 crash that killed a Santa Fe police officer and a retired Las Vegas firefighter.
Santa Fe police began pursuing a white 2019 Chevy Malibu in Santa Fe around 11:30 a.m. March 2 after a 911 caller said a woman had been kidnapped by a man with a knife.
During the chase, the Malibu merged onto I-25, driving the wrong direction — first heading north in the southbound lanes, and later turning around and driving south in the northbound lanes.
Retired Las Vegas fire engineer Frank Lovato, 62, swerved to miss the oncoming Malibu, then crashed into a Santa Fe Police Department vehicle driven by Officer Robert Duran, 43. Lovato and Duran were both killed in the collision.
The chase ended when the Malibu collided with another vehicle. As police approached the Malibu, Jaramillo was the only person in the car, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Santa Fe Magistrate Court.
Jaramillo told officers a man named “Mark” had punched her, soaked her with gasoline and kidnapped her. She said that following the crash, he fled on foot, dressed in a red shirt and black pants.
Multiple law enforcement agencies conducted a search of the area, closing down I-25 for hours, but they did not locate anyone matching the description provided.
Jaramillo was taken to St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe to be treated for a broken right arm. When she was released, she told police she’d be staying with her daughter in Albuquerque.
Investigators with New Mexico State Police followed Jaramillo to Albuquerque and began surveillance, according to an investigation report filed in court as an exhibit.
Jaramillo investigated
Investigators with NMSP began surveillance of Jaramillo at her daughter’s apartment near Tramway Boulevard and Indian School Road in Albuquerque on March 4, according to the investigation report.
Jaramillo left the apartment around 7:30 p.m. with a backpack and two suitcases. She got into her daughter’s SUV, but investigators allege she attempted to avoid being seen by running to the vehicle.
Investigators further allege the vehicle drove away from the apartment complex in a manner meant to avoid being followed. When the vehicle pulled into a restaurant parking lot near Central Avenue and Elizabeth Street, Jaramillo exited the vehicle.
Investigators interviewed Jaramillo’s daughter who said Jaramillo asked her to drive the way she did because Jaramillo believed the person who’d allegedly kidnapped her was in the area and was following them.
The next day, investigators viewed video of Jaramillo on Central near the University of New Mexico where she was seen speaking to her son.
Officers located Jaramillo with her son near a motel on Central where she was arrested.
Jaramillo was transported to the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center. While being booked into the jail, officers located a syringe and bag with about a gram of methamphetamine inside.
Similar incidents
Jaramillo is charged with two counts first-degree murder, or in the alternative, two counts of homicide by vehicle.
The decision on which of the two charges Jaramillo would ultimately be charged with would be decided by a judge or jury based on the evidence presented at trial, according to First Judicial Deputy District Attorney Kent Wahlquist.
Jaramillo also faces felony charges of receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing of law enforcement and possession of a controlled substance.
New charges were added on Wednesday as well, including two felony counts of great bodily injury by vehicle, one felony count of bringing contraband into jail and misdemeanor charges for making a false report and reckless driving.
In the pretrial detention motion, prosecutors asked the court to consider Jaramillo’s previous arrests in which she’s accused of similar crimes, and where she’s given similar accounts of a man forcing her into committing crimes.
The first incident was reported last year in Grants, on Sept. 7. Deputies with the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call about a car that crashed into a fence. As deputies approached the vehicle, the driver fled “at a high rate of speed,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Cibola County Magistrate Court. Deputies allege Jaramillo was behind the wheel.
Jaramillo led deputies on a chase through Grants where she blew through stop lights and even hit a fire hydrant, according to the complaint. The chase was called off for safety reasons, but officers with the Grants Police Department later located Jaramillo with the vehicle, which had been stolen in Albuquerque.
Jaramillo told police that a man with the last name of “Tafoya” had been holding her against her will, with a knife to her neck. She said he forced her to flee from police, and that when she tried to stop, he’d punched her. She said he fled on foot and that he was wearing a red shirt, black pants and a black hoodie, nearly the same description she gave to police in Santa Fe on March 2.
Jaramillo was arrested on an outstanding warrant, and during the arrest, police located meth on the ground near her, according to the complaint.
About a month later, on Oct. 8, Cibola County deputies had another encounter with Jaramillo, this time after a Century Link employee reported a bucket truck had been stolen from him in Grants.
Police found the truck in a ditch along Interstate 40, with no one inside. While searching the area, police located several articles of clothing along with a backpack. Near a pond, they found Jaramillo, wearing pants and a bra.
Jaramillo again told police a story about a boyfriend being involved, according to a statement of probable cause filed in Cibola County Magistrate Court. Police could not locate anyone else in the area.
Court proceedings
Jaramillo had been scheduled to appear in Santa Fe Magistrate Court Tuesday for a hearing where a bond amount and conditions of release could have been set, but since prosecutors have filed a pretrial motion asking that Jaramillo be held without bond until trial, she will remain in custody until the court makes a decision.
In the motion, prosecutors argued that Jaramillo poses a “serious risk of danger to the community,” and said that her past “history and characteristics” indicate that if she were to be released from custody, she is unlikely to comply with court orders and would likely commit new crimes.
All the charges against Jaramillo have been separated into three cases, and all three have been transferred to the First Judicial District Court for eventual trial, but trial dates have not been set.
A dangerousness hearing is scheduled for March 14 where the court will likely determine Jaramillo’s competency to stand trial.
A separate hearing to rule on pretrial detention will likely be held as well, but no other hearings had been scheduled as of this writing, and Jaramillo remained in custody at the county jail in Santa Fe.
