Grandson 3rd charged in woman’s slaying
Witness told detectives Drake Bickett ‘ finished off ’ grandmother by stabbing her
A month after his mother and her roommate were arrested and charged with murder, police arrested a 20-year-old man who they say helped the two kill his grandmother after they were all evicted from her northwest Albuquerque home.
Drake Bickett was booked into jail late Friday night on an open count of murder and tampering with evidence.
Police say he dealt the final blow in the death of his grandmother, 65-year-old Marilyn Gandert.
His mother, Alissa Bickett, 43, and her roommate Annie Rael, 28, were arrested on May 17 and charged in Gandert’s death.
Police say the three killed Gandert on Jan. 26 — by beating and stabbing her — after she evicted them from the home. Gandert’s charred body was found in the mesa outside Rio Rancho a few days later.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, detectives learned of Drake Bickett’s involvement during an interview with 24-year-old Veronica Patterson, who at one time also lived in the home Gandert rented to the three.
Patterson told police she dropped Drake Bickett off at the home the morning of Jan. 26. Gandert, Rael and Alissa Bickett were already there moving their stuff out as Gandert had evicted them.
Police say Patterson went to work and, when she returned to the home,
the three took her inside and threatened her “multiple times” with a gun and knife before showing her Gandert’s body “covered in blood, hands and ankles bound and a plastic material wrapped around her head” in Rael’s bedroom.
“(Patterson) stated it was obvious (Gandert) was dead,” an officer wrote.
Patterson told police the three then forced her to help put Gandert’s body in the back of Rael’s truck and drive far into the mesa west of Rio Rancho.
Police say Alissa Bickett put Gandert’s body on a mattress before dousing it with gasoline and setting her mother-in-law’s body on fire.
Patterson told detectives Rael later told her that Drake Bickett lured his grandmother into the house before “arguing with her about the eviction.”
Police say Rael then got the “go ahead” from Alissa Bickett to “take care” of Gandert and both woman began beating Gandert.
Patterson told detectives the two women “got concerned” because Gandert “just wouldn’t die” so Drake Bickett “finished off” his grandmother by stabbing her.