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Rio Rancho's 2024 homicide numbers a stark increase over previous years
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RIO RANCHO — Rio Rancho and Sandoval County continue to grow at a rapid rate.
According to U.S. Census data, the Rio Rancho population is above 110,000 as of 2023, which making up the bulk of Sandoval County’s population. It received recognition as one of New Mexico’s fastest-growing cities in 2023 and one of the best places to live last year.
However, crime has become a growing concern for some, especially in light of the murder of a 15-year-old in October.
Crime has also been a focus in New Mexico Legislature for the past few years and is expected to be a focus of the current 2025 session.
A look at crime data from the past 10 years shows that 2024 was drastically different when it came to crime as eight homicides were investigated in Rio Rancho. That is a record compared the one or two homicides investigated in years prior.
Combined data from the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, FBI and city of Rio Rancho illustrates the increase. NMDPS provided data from 2014-20, and Rio Rancho provided 2021-24.
The 2024 numbers are striking compared to the years preceding it, tallying more homicides than the previous three years combined.
RRPD investigated eight homicides in 2024, three in 2023, two in 2022 and one in 2021, according to the data provided.
Reedy attributes the increase in homicides directly to domestic violence.
“Five of the eight tragic incidents involved individuals who were either family members or lived in the same home as the victims. These heartbreaking events highlight the critical importance of addressing violence in households early,” Reedy said.
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She also said 2024 was unique in the number of homicides.
“I cannot speculate what the factors to future homicides will be; however, 2024 had five homicides that happened within households or amongst family,” she added.
Reedy recognized the community’s demand for justice in homicide cases. As with all law enforcement, though, the process can take time.
“There are an abundance of factors that can result in more lengthy investigations,” Reedy said.
One of those factors is sending evidence to the crime lab for forensic evaluation. “This process can take a varied amount of time, from several months up to several years, depending on the case being investigated and circumstances and severity surrounding the crime. Our crime lab and personnel are amazing and work tirelessly to assist ALL law enforcement agencies in the state of New Mexico,” she said.
Additionally, as the world evolves in technology, so too must crime analysis. This includes obtaining and processing digital forensic evidence involved in a crime.
“As an example, first obtaining a search warrant(s) for a cellphone and processing the cellphone at the Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory. Then obtaining a search warrant for an app on the phone believed to be used in the commission of a crime,” Reedy said.
She gave the example of the social media platform Snapchat.
“We then have to submit our request and warrant to Snapchat and wait on Snapchat to provide us the media data, which then must be analyzed as it pertains to our investigation,” she said.
These are just a few factors that can slow up an investigation.
“Again, it would be impossible to go over every factor, but the Rio Rancho Police Department works diligently to resolve all crimes in our city with convictions,” Reedy added.
Other crimesOf course, homicide isn’t the only crime occurring in the city. Data shows that theft, whether it be automotive, burglary, larceny or all, makes up the bulk of local crime.
The New Mexico Department of Public Safety (NMDPS) ‘s Uniform Crime Report shows crime data for Sandoval County from 2014-20.
The latest data, from 2020, shows a total of 1,386 reported crimes in the county. The most common crimes fit into the category of property crimes with burglary, larceny theft and motor vehicle theft accounting for significant portions. Larceny-theft was the most reported, with a rate of 2,122.6 per 100,000, followed by burglary at 1,351.9, and motor vehicle theft at 969.7.
Violent crimes were led by assault, which had a rate of 3,902.3 per 100,000. Robbery followed with 265.3, while forcible rape and criminal homicide had much lower rates, at 5.2% and 0.4%, respectively.
The FBI’s UCR arrest statistics for Sandoval County show that the most arrests for violent offences occurred in 2020. NMDPS attributes this to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. FBI data shows the numbers level back down to average numbers from 2021 forward.
NMDPS data for Rio Rancho specifically varies, and since the department only had data up to 2020, four years of crime data wasn’t available. From 2014-16, with all months reported, there was a steady increase in number of crimes answered by the Rio Rancho Police Department, which reached its peak of 2,722 crimes in 2016, up from 2,270 crimes in 2014. Larceny and theft took up about 60% of the crimes in those three years. Violent crimes such as homicide and rape took up 1% or less of the crimes.
In 2017, the number of crimes dropped to 2,423. The bulk of that was again larceny and theft, while rape and homicide were significantly small in comparison, making up less than 1%. Overall crime dropped even lower in 2018, to 2,123 crimes. At that point, larceny and theft started to decline and rape and homicide began to increase slightly, though they still remained 1% of the crimes. 2019 saw a record-low crime report with 1,994. Again, larceny and theft took the lead with homicide and rape jumping to almost 2%.
Data from last year reported, 2020, only included January through June. As a result, total crimes in Rio Rancho were down to 889 for the first half of the year. The cutoff was attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down most of New Mexico about halfway through the year. The practice of releasing crime data appears to have stopped at that point. Observer archives show there was a murder in late November 2020.
While theft tends to lead the number of crimes over recent years, 2024’s homicide numbers show that domestic violence appears to be escalating locally and leading to more severe types of crime.
According to the Domestic Violence Hotline, an average of 24 people per minute, about 12 million people per year, experience some form of domestic violence from an intimate partner. Three in 10 are women and one in 10 are men.
“If you or someone you know is experiencing conflict or violence in the home, please seek help immediately. Resources and support are available through the Rio Rancho Crime Victim Advocacy Unit at 505-891-5851,” Reedy said.
A local resource for domestic violence help is Haven House.
For more information visit thehotline.org.
