Suspect in 2008 NM murder extradited from Mexico
Ten years after Danny Baca’s body was found riddled with bullets and torched in the Pajarito Mesa, deputies say they have taken another of his alleged killers into custody.
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Felicia Maggard said 35-yearold Jaime Veleta Jr. was extradited from Mexico on Wednesday to face charges of murder, kidnapping, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence in the January 2008 slaying of 53-year-old Baca.
Deputies say Veleta Jr., along with three other men, were following cartel orders when they kidnapped Baca at gunpoint from his Tijeras home after Baca stole $7,000 of the cartel’s drugs.
Baca’s body was found on Jan. 11 in the middle of a dirt road near Dennis Chavez and Paseo del Vulcan SW. He had been shot 22 times and set on fire.
At the time, BCSO Sheriff Darren White said the cartel was “sending a message” with Baca’s murder.
Two of Veleta Jr.’s accomplices, Gerardo Nunez and Mario Talavera, have already been arrested in the case, but Veleta Jr. has been on the run — earning him a spot on the U.S. Marshals most-wanted list in New Mexico.
“I am pleased that our office has successfully extradited Jaime Veleta from Mexico, where he evaded prosecution, and secured his custody in the State of New Mexico so that he will not escape trial for murder charges in Bernalillo County,” Attorney General Hector Balderas said in a statement released Wednesday night.