Suspect charged in North Valley homicide
Man restrained victim during fight over chores
A man is accused of manslaughter after allegedly restraining another man — killing him in the process — during a fight over chores at a home in the North Valley.
Hans Vonhuene, 37, is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the April 22 death of 41-year-old Ernest Casias. It is unclear if Vonhuene has an attorney.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court:
Bernalillo County deputies responded around 6 p.m. to a home near Fourth and Osuna NW and found Casias dead in the living room, which was in disarray. A woman who lived at the home told deputies Casias was friends with another roommate and had wanted to move into the house but Vonhuene, who owned the home, “had not let him yet.”
She said before the incident Vonhuene told Casias to leave because he was not helping with chores or “pulling his weight.” The woman told deputies Casias punched Vonhuene repeatedly before Vonhuene pinned him to the floor, sitting on him as he called 911. Vonhuene told deputies Casias did not live at the home but had tried to “make himself useful” and possibly flooded the garage while trying to help.
He said he told Casias to leave before he punched Vonhuene dozens of times. Vonhuene told deputies he got Casias on the ground, face down, with his hands above his head.
Vonhuene said Casias was breathing and “he wasn’t sure what happened” but that “there may have been pressure applied to his neck.” Deputies said Vonhuene initially told them he used a “sleeper hold” on Casias but he later denied that to a detective.
“He stated he didn’t want to hurt (Casias) and he just wanted to stop (Casias) from hitting him,” according to the complaint.
Vonhuene had only “small abrasions” to his face, and an autopsy ruled Casias’ death a homicide with the cause being “restraint,” with “contributing factors of toxic effects of methamphetamine, poor health and obesity while restrained.”
The detective concluded that Vonhuene “did upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion restrain Ernest Casias in a manner that (did) cause his death.”