Slain boy was kept in kennel, SF County sheriff says
13-year-old beaten so severely he walked with cane, sister says
SANTA FE — Jeremiah Valencia endured harsh punishment that left him walking with a cane and died a gruesome death, to the point that Santa Fe County Sheriff Robert Garcia had to take a few seconds to compose himself before describing the case during a news conference Tuesday.
Jeremiah’s mother, 35-year-old Tracy Ann Pena, Thomas Ferguson, 42, and Ferguson’s son, Jordan Nunez, 19, have been charged in the 13-year-old’s death. Court documents accuse Ferguson of beating the boy to death at their home near Nambé in late November and burying the body not far from the house.
Investigators recovered the body Sunday after Pena pointed them to a general location.
“In my years in law enforcement, I would think that this is one of the most terrifying types of investigations that I’ve seen,” Garica said, fighting back tears. “Although I’ve seen a lot, this is very
gut wrenching to the point where you go home and it’s hard to sleep at night, just thinking about the abuses the poor child went through.”
Court documents filed in Magistrate Court late Monday say Ferguson and Pena would lock Jeremiah in a dog kennel, and give him food and water while he was confined. The documents also say Ferguson beat the boy so badly that Jeremiah required a cane and wheelchair to get around.
The boy’s death came to light only after a Santa Fe County jail prisoner overheard Pena talking about it during a jail stay last week. Both Pena and Ferguson were in the jail for probation violations.
Santa Fe District Attorney Marco Serna said Jeremiah was not enrolled in school and a missing person report was never generated.
Santa Fe Public Schools spokesman Jeff Gephart said Jeremiah last attended Carlos Gilbert Elementary School during the 2015-16 school year.
“If the child was registered in school, there would have been recommendations to CYFD that the individual is not there and there would have been a follow-up investigation,” Serna said.
State Children, Youth and Families Department spokesman Henry Varela said the department had a protective service interaction with Jeremiah and his now 13-year-old sister, Pena’s daughter, in 2011 and placed them with family members.
A Santa Fe District Court judge granted the children’s maternal grandparents guardianship for a year in June 2012, according to court documents. Varela said the department can’t contact families once a court grants guardianship unless a new protective service investigation is initiated.
Varela confirmed that the daughter is now in non-relative foster care.
According to Nunez’s arrest warrant affidavit, the girl — who initially told investigators her brother was with an uncle in Mora — was interviewed a second time Saturday. She then told detectives that “Thomas (Ferguson) had physically abused Jeremiah to the point Jeremiah needed and required a cane to walk.”
She also said Jeremiah had to use a wheelchair and was forced by Ferguson to sleep in a dog kennel. When Ferguson wasn’t around, “Tracy (Pena) would often feed Jeremiah food and water while he was still inside the canine kennel,” the affidavit says.
The girl said she believes Jeremiah died from Ferguson physically abusing him one day between Nov. 24 and Nov. 26. She said Ferguson began to punch Jeremiah in the living room, and dragged him through the kitchen and into the bathroom, where the physical abuse continued.
Ferguson and Nunez then placed Jeremiah in the dog kennel, and she believes he passed away in there.
She said Ferguson told her that if anyone asked about Jeremiah to say that he was staying in Mora.
Body found
Pena told a detective she found Jeremiah dead on his bed after she was released from county jail on Nov. 26.
On Saturday, she was taken from jail to show deputies where the boy was buried.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office supplied a cadaver dog that showed interest in an area that had several tree branches stacked on it and an animal skull “that appeared to be marking the area,” the affidavit says. Deputies began excavating the site on Sunday and found a plastic storage container. It was not opened to preserve evidence and was taken to the Office of the Medical Investigator for an autopsy.
Pena was interviewed again Monday and said that after Jeremiah died, his body was put in the garage and “wrapped up in a roll of carpet,” the affidavit says.
Three days later, she said, Ferguson and Nunez wrapped Jeremiah’s remains in plastic sheeting, the affidavit says. Then the three defendants drove to the spot off N.M. 503 a few miles east of the house.
Ferguson and Pena left Nunez there for an hour and a half, and “it is believed” that he was digging a hole for the body. When they came back, she said, she stayed in the car while the other two buried Jeremiah.
State Police Chief Pete Kassetas, at the press conference Tuesday, said he was not happy about Ferguson walking free given his criminal history, which includes aggravated assault, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, child abuse, criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping and many other charges.
Kassetas said, “How many times in this state do we give individuals a second, third, fourth and fifth chance? After 25 years of doing this, it’s just frustrating. The system needs to be looked at. We need to find out why this guy was out, quite frankly.”
In one case, Ferguson was indicted in 2014 on one count each of criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping, aggravated battery on a household member and interference with communications.
According to Santa Fe Police Department reports, a woman who was identified as Ferguson’s long-time girlfriend said he kept her at his house for five days, and beat and sexually assaulted her. The woman was finally able to contact her mother, who called police.
SWAT members entered the house and found Ferguson unconscious and took him to the hospital, believing he had overdosed on prescription pills.
Santa Fe District Court Judge T. Glenn Ellington approved a deal that had Ferguson plead guilty to one count of kidnapping and one count of aggravated battery on a household member, according to a court document filed in May 2015. He was sentenced to nine years in prison with 7 years, 7 months and 23 days suspended, meaning he had to serve a little over two years. There was also a condition that “The State shall stipulate to the charges being classified as non-violent.”
Neighbors speak
Near Nambé, neighbors said Tuesday that Jeremiah seemed like a normal 13-year-old and that they never heard or witnessed violence from the people who lived next door.
Phil Hassrick said he had a cordial relationship with the family group, particularly with Ferguson and Nunez. He would sometimes speak with Jeremiah, who he described as quiet and polite.
Hassrick said Ferguson worked odd jobs like tearing out carpets, buying and selling cars, and raising and selling pit bull dogs. The family group had about five pit bulls living at the home. He mentioned that Ferguson loved firecrackers, sometimes setting them off at late hours like 11 p.m. and upsetting neighbors. At one point, he said, Ferguson told him he traded a pit bull puppy for $1,000 worth of firecrackers.
“They were very secretive or kept to themselves,” said Al Martinez, who has lived next door for more than 60 years.
Sometimes he would see the children, including Jeremiah, playing outside with the dogs.
“They looked like normal kids,” said Martinez. “They looked well fed and clean.”
Martinez also said he never heard any loud noises or arguing coming from the home just a few yards away. “It’s very odd that this had happened,” he said.