Lead suspect’s son pleads not guilty in boy’s death
Jordan Anthony Nuñez, 20, one of three people charged in connection with the death of 13-year-old Jeremiah Valencia in Nambé, pleaded not guilty this week to 13 counts filed against him in state District Court.
Nuñez, who entered his plea Monday, faces a charge of intentional abuse resulting in the death of a child under 12 — a first-degree felony — as well as 11 felony counts of tampering with evidence and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing the reporting of child abuse or neglect.
Nuñez is the son of Thomas Wayne Ferguson, who is charged with firstdegree murder in the November death of Jeremiah, his girlfriend’s son.
According to arrest warrants filed in the case, Jeremiah’s family members told police Ferguson would often torture the boy, beating him with a number of weapons and forcing the boy into a dog kennel. Santa Fe County Sheriff ’s Office reports say Nuñez told deputies that on the day of Jeremiah’s death, Ferguson had severely beaten the boy until he died and then forced Nuñez, at gunpoint, to help move the boy’s body.
Search warrants filed last week revealed Facebook messages between Nuñez and Ferguson that raise questions about the death, however.
“Jordan the trouble makers gone you got rid of his [expletive] and now you are actually starting to get like him,” Ferguson wrote to his son, according to the sheriff ’s office.
“You all don’t want me here ever since that [expletive] happened. … They look at me like I did it all by myself they did it too,” Nuñez wrote back, apparently referring to Ferguson, his girlfriend, Tracy Ann Peña, and Peña’s young daughter.
“… I think about that kid everyday cause I looked in his eyes as he left I see that look everyday,” Nuñez wrote.
Peña, Jeremiah’s mother, also is facing charges of child abuse and tampering with evidence in the death.
Contact Sami Edge at sedge@sfnewmexican.com or 505986-3055.