New Mexico Teen Sentenced to 45 Years for Double Murder, Including Killing Mother in Front of 2-year-old
A 19-year-old New Mexico man who was 15 when he murdered a mother in front of her 2-year-old daughter, killed another woman, and injured a man during a robbery has been sentenced.
In a press release, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman announced that Josef Toney had been sentenced to 45 years in jail with the possibility of probation after 38 years for the killings of Aerial Mallam, 21, and Jessica Casaus Lucero, 31.
The carnage occurred on the night of January 27, 2021, when Toney arrived at the Aztec Village condominiums in Albuquerque. He shot Mallam while her 2-year-old daughter watched, and then killed Lucero.
As Toney fled, he shot and wounded Mallam’s uncle before engaging in a gunfight with a fourth person as he attempted to steal a vehicle, according to investigators. Toney was shot during the exchange of gunfire but managed to escape. More than nine months later, police caught Toney in Denver.
Mallam’s uncle stood in court and pleaded with the judge to punish the offender to the fullest extent possible.
“The guy that’s sitting in the defendant’s chair, that wasn’t a kid that was shooting at me,” he stated, according to local CBS and Fox affiliate KRQE. “That guy knew what the hell he was doing. There is no doubt in my opinion that he knew what he was doing.
Margaret Lucero, Jessica’s mother, was stunned.
“How on earth will we explain this to our grandchildren? That’s not feasible,” she told KOB, a local NBC station.
Shantelle Rojo, Jessica Lucero’s sister, explained: “We had to cremate my sister since she was shot in the head, and I never got to see her face because they told it would be too difficult for me to see. “The best I could do was say goodbye to a corpse-filled body bag.”
KOB reported that Toney apologized.
“At first, you guys had it spot on. When you claimed I was sorry because I got caught, that was the truth. “It was,” Toney told the newspaper. “It took a long time for me to learn about real-life issues. Reading the news and real-world literature will help you grasp how valuable life is.”
Toney pled guilty to the charges in April.
A month later, he escaped from an Albuquerque juvenile facility, which changed the course of the case. He was captured on security footage unlocking a gate but surrendered the next day, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.
Lucero’s obituary stated that she was a mother of three children. According to the obituary, the lifelong New Mexico resident traveled to Albuquerque to further her education and achieve her ultimate ambition of becoming a nurse anesthetist.
“Jessica had a colorful life,” the obituary read. “She was sincere, caring, compassionate, and devoted. Her attitude and grin were infectious.”
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