Sewer line break at court pauses murder trial

BERNALILLO — The state and defense have rested in the murder trial for Adam Kruse, but the trial was put on pause due to a sewer line that was struck at the courthouse.

Judge George Eichwald informed everyone Jan. 14, the third day of the trial, that construction workers hit a sewer line and the supreme court instructed the 13th Judicial District Court to close at 1 p.m. Eichwald said the trial would resume at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 15.

Kruse, 59, of Rio Rancho, was arrested Dec. 10, 2024, for the first-degree murder of Josiah Yazzie on Dixon Meadows Drive in Northern Meadows.

Before the sewage-driven pause, the jury heard from the state's last two witnesses. 

First, they heard from the Office of the Medical Examiner. The examiner explained that Yazzie sustained skull fractures and brain damage from the shotgun shot's impact. Ultimately, his cause of death was the shot, which was determined to be bird shot, with a brain bleed as the manner of death. The examiner also did a toxicology report, which showed Yazzie was intoxicated with alcohol when he was killed.

Lastly, the court heard from lead detective Aaron Lopez from the Rio Rancho Police Department.

Through testimony and cross-examination, Lopez shared that there was nothing to indicate Kruse and Yazzie knew each other, though they lived near each other. He did question Yazzie's family about where he was the day he was killed. Yazzie's mom asked Yazzie to run an errand for her but told her he met up with a friend, according to Lopez. She was able to provide a few friends' information, but Lopez said they didn't look into anyone in more detail. One of those friends, he said, had a criminal record with property theft and other minor crimes.

When the state asked Lopez why he thought Kruse was the suspect, he said that the facts that the murder happened near Kruse's house/backyard, that Kruse was found near where the fence had been broken, that Kruse's injuries were consistent with someone who had jumped a fence, that the gun was found in Kruse's living room and more were all reasons he thought Kruse was the suspect. Additionally, though there was some question of a mystery person that escaped the scene, Lopez said they did not find anyone else in the neighborhood.

The defense raised several questions about reports filed by police on this case because Lopez and the others allegedly left out some witness statements about the potential mystery person one neighbor claimed they saw. Lopez did not have an explanation for why these details were left out except that those conversations with witnesses were caught on body camera footage. The defense argued that since footage isn't part of the grand jury indictment process, the case was misrepresented from the start.

The lawyers were scheduled to give closing arguments after lunch, but the sewer line break postponed those proceedings. The trial will resume Jan. 15.