Man guilty in bludgeoning death
Jury returns a first-degree murder verdict for the killing of the 29-year-old woman
Following a seven-day trial, jurors on Thursday convicted a 58-year-old man of first-degree murder and lesser charges in the bludgeoning death of Tiffany Boyer, according to a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office.
William Paul Alexander will be sentenced at a later date. His attorneys could not be reached for comment Thursday evening. Alexander was one of four people charged in Boyer’s killing. All of his co-defendants have pleaded guilty to lesser crimes and are awaiting sentencing.
Police said the group was angry at Boyer because they believed she played a role in the disappearance of their friend, Robert “Machete Bob” McGuire.
According to court documents, police learned that 29-year-old Boyer told a friend that McGuire raped her.
And that friend, police said, told Boyer he was “sick of people in this town treating women like that,” and that “he would take care of Robert.”
McGuire, who may have been killed with a crossbow, was found dead in a shallow grave in Valencia County, according to court documents. His family said he acquired the nickname “Machete Bob” after a machete attack permanently injured his hand.
In August 2015, after “Machete Bob” went missing, a group of his friends took Boyer to a home near San Mateo and Constitution NE in Albuquerque and beat her to death with a hammer, police said. Her body was found decomposing near Mountainair in November.
Along with Alexander, Shawna Cannon, Joshua Taramasco and Stephanie Stepp were charged in Boyer’s death.
Stepp pleaded guilty in August to second-degree murder, conspiracy and kidnapping and faces a 24-year sentence. She agreed to provide truthful statements in the case, according to court documents. Both Cannon and Taramasco pleaded guilty to kidnapping, and Taramasco agreed to provide truthful statements about the case.
Also new: Michael Patrick, spokesman for the DA’s Office said that the office hopes the verdict “gives the family some measure of justice for their tragic loss.”