ALBUQUERQUE – Federal and local authorities have identified a man suspected of killing an Albuquerque woman outside her home in November – a killing that garnered national attention last month after President Donald Trump invited her widowed husband to the White House.
Authorities have focused on Luis Talamantes, a purported member of the Juaritos Maravilla street gang and an immigrant suspected of being in the country illegally, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
He has been held in Texas since Jan. 21 on federal charges of illegal re-entry, the newspaper reported. But Talamantes has not been charged in the death of Colombian immigrant Jacqueline Vigil.
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and Albuquerque Police Chief Mike Geier said Wednesday a suspect, who they did not identify, was charged Wednesday with federal firearms charges. He was identified by Albuquerque police homicide detectives in Vigil’s death.
Both said the suspect was identified and arrested as a result of homicide detectives’ work long before Operation Legend and the U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson got involved.
Operation Legend is the name of the Trump Administration operation that is sending federal agents to targeted cities to fight crime.
It was not known if Talamantes had an attorney.
