Suspect in 5-year-old’s death appears in court
Man charged with seconddegree murder in death of Renezmae Calzada
Malcolm Torres made his first appearance in Federal Court Monday morning after being charged with second-degree murder in the death of his ex-girlfriend’s 5-year-old daughter, Renezmae Calzada.
The indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico states that “On or about September 7, 2019 in Indian Country, in Rio Arriba County, in the District of New Mexico, the defendant Malcolm Torres, unlawfully killed Jane Doe, an Indian, with malice aforethought.”
Renezmae was reported missing by her mother the evening of Sept. 8. Authorities had previously said she was last seen outside her Española home that morning.
An Amber Alert went out a couple of hours later and local police, FBI agents, and friends, family and community members embarked on a massive search for the little girl.
Renezmae’s body was found in the Rio Grande near Santa Clara Pueblo in Rio Arriba County on Sept. 11.
Authorities have not said how she died and did not offer any details about the case at Monday’s hearing.
Torres was arrested in the Pojoaque Pueblo Sunday night sev
eral hours after he was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo County. He had been serving time for violating probation in an unrelated drunken driving case.
Flanked by a federal public defender, Torres appeared before Judge Kirtan Khalsa Monday morning where he was read his rights and acknowledged that he understood the charges against him.
Prosecutors asked for him to be held in jail until trial. A detention hearing and arraignment will be heard on that motion Tuesday morning.
A couple of family members sat quietly in the audience throughout the proceedings and declined to talk to the Journal afterward.
Although Torres was sentenced to 64 days in jail on Sept. 25 for the probation violation in his DWI case, he was released on Sunday after serving 32 days because he got credit for 26 days spent in jail before sentencing, starting with his arrested shortly after Renezmae disappeared, and his sentence was further reduced for good behavior, an MDC spokeswoman said.