Portales woman shot to death

PORTALES — The victim of an alleged Thursday homicide was a “great soul,” a “go getter” and a “wonderful mother,” according to a friend.

That’s how Cynthia Dominguez remembered her friend of 20 years, Erika Zamorano, who was found dead around 9:45 p.m. Thursday in a home on the 900 block of E. Second St. in Portales.

Court records show that Zamorano had a wound over her left eye “consistent with a possible gunshot wound.”

34-year-old Gerardo Marquez, of Portales, was charged with Zamorano’s murder and booked into the Curry County Adult Detention Center at 1:04 p.m. on Friday, initially charged with battery upon a peace officer and resisting, evading or obstructing an officer, according to jail records.

He was transferred to the Roosevelt County Adult Detention Center after a judge signed off on the arrest warrant for murder, and booked into the jail there just before 6 p.m, records show.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Marquez and a cousin met Zamorano at the residence on east Second Street “during the morning hours” on Thursday, and Marquez entered with Zamorano. The cousin reportedly heard “yelling and a single boom, later explained as a possible gunshot,” and Marquez returned seconds later, alone. Marquez then removed a “dark colored gun” from his waistband and placed it under the seat of the truck he was driving.

The two fled to Clovis, records show, where Marquez told his cousin “I (expletive) up” repeatedly. After purchasing a room at a Clovis hotel, Marquez and his cousin were detained Friday by the New Mexico State Police.

A search of the truck yielded two firearms, including a dark colored .45 ACP handgun.

Marquez’s mother reportedly told police that in a phone conversation with her son at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, he repeatedly told her “he screwed up and instructed her to inform his children that he loved them,” according to the records.

Zamorano’s mother reportedly told police that on March 21, her daughter moved in with her after Marquez “threatened Erika by pointing a handgun at her head.”

Records show that on Thursday, Elia Zamorano received notifications from schools that her daughter hadn’t gone to retrieve her children at the end of the school day.

Marquez is currently held without bond at the Roosevelt County Adult Detention Center on an open count of murder, according to Administrator Justin Porter.

District Attorney Andrea Reeb said she expects the case to go before a grand jury within 10 days of his first appearance in magistrate court, and that her office will file a motion to continue to hold him without bond.

“Because of the joint cooperation and hard work from the major crimes unit and the Portales Police Department, a swift and thorough investigation was done in this case resulting in an arrest of (Marquez) in less than 24 hours from the initial call out,” she wrote in a message to The News.

Staff writer David Grieder contributed to this report.