Rio Rancho man arrested in murder of his wife

A Rio Rancho man is accused of killing his wife in a Saturday morning shooting in the 2100 block of Acapulco Road.

John Vallejos, 45, of Rio Rancho, was arrested for the first-degree murder of his wife, Roberta Valdez.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the Sandoval County Magistrate Court in Bernalillo, a family member of Vallejos called 911, telling dispatch Vallejos had shot his wife. They said they got a phone call from him at about 7:30 a.m., shortly after the incident occurred. He was reportedly sobbing on the phone, and the family member said it was hard to hear what he was saying.

When officers arrived at the residence, they found Vallejos sitting in his truck in the driveway and were able to detained him without incident. The gun was still in the truck but was not removed at that time.

Officers found Roberta unresponsive in the bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head.

When officers spoke with Vallejos, he began acting excited and appeared to be in emotional distress. He said to one officer, while speaking about Roberta's family, "I'm sorry I took her from them."

Police found there had been previous domestic incidents at the home when checking Vallejos' history. He had previously been charged with aggravated battery of Roberta; however, she didn't pursue charges at the time and had said the investigating officer lied about the incident.

During an interview with detectives at the Rio Rancho Police Department, Vallejos said he and Roberta had been arguing since 1 a.m. and admitted that he retrieved a gun at some point during the argument and pointed it at his own head. As they continued arguing, he said he pointed it at Roberta and it "went off," which was when he realized he "did a bad thing." He added that he drove around to friends and family before calling his family member telling them what he did. The family member then called 911.

First-degree murder is a capital felony with steep penalties, including life imprisonment without parole upon conviction.