Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Zapata
A Clovis murder suspect accidentally released from a Lea County jail in October is back in custody, Clovis police said Thursday.
Alex Zapata, 27, was booked into the Curry County Adult Detention Center at 2:12 p.m. Thursday, online court records show.
A police news release issued Thursday stated Zapata was located at 3104 Smith Ave. in Clovis, the home of a “known associate,” Mikyla Sandoval. Agents from the U.S. Marshal Service, Region V Drug Task Force and Clovis police surrounded the residence and “began to knock and announce their presence,” the release stated.
“Shortly after the announcements began, Zapata exited the residence and surrendered himself to the officers.”
Police found a 9mm handgun inside the residence, the release stated.
Clovis Police Capt. Robert Telles said authorities checked the residence because they knew Sandoval was Zapata’s girlfriend. She was not detained by authorities.
Clovis police said they became aware of Zapata’s accidental release on Dec. 5 after an anonymous tipster reported seeing him around the city.
On Dec. 6, police were called to an apartment complex in the 1000 block of North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for a domestic disturbance. In the process of looking into that, police said they learned Zapata may have been in the complex.
Zapata was not located at the scene of that disturbance, but a new warrant was issued for his arrest.
He was initially accused of murder in connection with the July 2023 robbery and slaying of Anibal Salguero in the 900 block of West Ninth Street in Clovis. Zapata on July 10, 2023, was booked into the Curry County Adult Detention Center soon after the killing and charged with multiple felonies. He was being held without bond.
Three months later, records show, Zapata – convicted of four felonies since 2016 -- was sent to a state correctional facility to serve time for a parole violation resulting from an unrelated crime.
A state Corrections Department spokesman told KOAT-TV that Zapata was released from the Department of Corrections after serving time for the parole violation and sent to Lea County where he also was wanted by authorities for a probation violation.
Clovis prosecutor Brett Carter said a Lea County prosecutor in October agreed to discharge Zapata from his probation violation in that county. But that should have triggered a return to Clovis to face the 2023 murder charge. Instead, Zapata was released from custody.
Mark Gallegos became director of the Lea County Detention Center in November, so he was not in Hobbs in October was Zapata was accidentally released. But Gallegos said Thursday that documents he found on Zapata’s case in Lea County do not show a “hold” for any other jurisdiction, so that’s why he was released.
Court records show Salguero was in a car with another man when two men in masks demanded money on July 9, 2023. When Salguero refused, one of the men fired a “warning shot” into the car. Salguero then left the vehicle and attempted to grab the gun. “(A)nother shot rang out and that was when Anibal fell to the ground,” records show.
Police said Salguero was dead when they arrived on the scene. Records show police believe one of the masked men was Zapata.
Police believe Cordney Cooper was the other masked man. He also is charged with murder. Online court records show Cooper and Zapata on Friday were in the Curry County jail, being held without bond.
