APD: Woman kidnapped, beaten, tortured
One of two suspects bragged about crime in phone calls from jail, complaint says
Albuquerque police say two women kidnapped a man’s ex-girlfriend and tortured her with a wrench and blowtorch in the back seat of a car before throwing her onto a street as the car sped down the road.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, 30-yearold Jessica Villarreal bragged in jail phone calls about killing the victim, unaware that she survived the ordeal.
Villarreal and Jessica Diaz, 30, face charges of kidnapping, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment.
Police say the pair abducted Phillip Chavez’s ex-girlfriend, Elena Orneles, from a southeast Albuquerque gas station and kicked her out of the car near 98th and West Central.
Orneles walked to a nearby home in severe pain, covered in bruises, burns and road rash across her body, according to the complaint.
From a hospital bed, Orneles told police that an acquaintance, Diaz, known as “Too Short,” picked her up March 8 to “hang out” and drove to a 7-Eleven off Central NE. Soon after, Chavez’s SUV pulled up with Chavez, Villarreal and others inside.
Police say Villarreal got out of Chavez’s SUV, jumped into the backseat of Diaz’s car and beat Orneles with a wrench.
Orneles told police another man and woman, unidentified in the complaint, also jumped into Diaz’s car before they drove off.
Police say that, while Diaz drove, the man held down Orneles as Villarreal burned her feet and toes with a blowtorch.
Orneles told police she remembers the door opening before Villarreal kicked her out at a “high rate of speed.”
Officers found Chavez at his home with Villarreal. During questioning, Chavez allegedly told police he had nothing to do with the assault and had no knowledge it hed occurred when he picked up Villarreal afterward.
When asked why he would allow someone to hurt Orneles “if he truly loves her,” Chavez told police: “No one is allowed to touch her, they know she is mine and belongs to me, we always find our way back to each other.”
Villarreal refused to answer questions from police and was booked into jail.
Police say that, on March 12, MDC provided a recorded conversation of Villarreal “bragging” about “killing a girl by beating her up and burning her body then throwing her out by the Route 66 casino.”
“In the conversation it was apparent that Villarreal believed they killed the female,” an officer wrote in the complaint.
Villarreal is in custody while Diaz has a warrant out for her arrest.
According to online court documents, no charges have been filed against Chavez in the case.