Elizabeth Ortiz-Chavez Sentenced for Killing Daughter’s Boyfriend

Elizabeth Ortiz-Chavez, a 49-year-old woman from Belen, New Mexico, was sentenced on May 1, 2025, to 18 years in prison for the March 2022 shooting death of her daughter’s 16-year-old boyfriend, Josue “Jay” Ruiz, in a downtown Albuquerque alley. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement after investigators determined she had pulled the trigger and then tried to frame her own teenage son for the killing.¹

What Happened in the Alley

On March 4, 2022, Albuquerque police found Ruiz fatally shot in an alley behind Lindy’s Diner, near Sixth and Central SW.¹ He had been dating the daughter of Ortiz-Chavez.²

According to the criminal complaint, the daughter was pregnant and had told her family that Ruiz, her ex-boyfriend, had hit her.¹ Ortiz-Chavez arranged for her 16-year-old son, Angelo Baldonado, to confront Ruiz in the alley. The two teens were preparing to fight when gunshots went off, and witnesses later told investigators it was Ortiz-Chavez who fired.³

Blaming Her Son

After the shooting, Ortiz-Chavez blamed the killing on Baldonado, believing he would face a lighter sentence as a juvenile.⁴ Baldonado was arrested and charged with murder, and he sat in juvenile detention for more than a year for a crime investigators eventually concluded his mother had committed.

Two pieces of evidence turned the case. Someone told detectives that Baldonado’s older brother had said Ortiz-Chavez was the actual shooter and that “Angelo was taking the fault.” And while Baldonado was in juvenile detention, recorded phone calls captured him telling his mother, “No matter what happens, they are gonna put that conspiracy to commit murder for me.”⁵ Online communications between Baldonado’s brother and a friend also pointed investigators toward the mother.⁶ Ortiz-Chavez was arrested on May 5, 2023, and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on a first-degree murder charge.⁷ She had no prior criminal history.

A Separate Charge From the Same Investigation

During the homicide investigation, detectives executed a search warrant at Ortiz-Chavez’s residence and found sexually explicit images of minors on a computer tablet belonging to her. A forensic examination of the tablet revealed 23 images of child sexual abuse, and she was charged with sexual exploitation of children. That charge was distinct from the murder case, though it grew out of the same investigation.⁸

The Plea and 18-Year Sentence

On January 15, 2025, Ortiz-Chavez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement before Judge Lucy Solomon in Bernalillo County. The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office said she “tried to blame her son for the murder because he’s a juvenile and she believed he would face a lesser sentence.”⁹

On May 1, 2025, she was sentenced to 18 years in prison, which the judge noted was the maximum for the charge.¹ She is serving the sentence in the New Mexico Corrections Department.⁵

At the sentencing hearing, Ruiz’s sister, Isabella Ruiz, remembered him as having a “loving and kind heart,” saying, “He had a way of giving everything he had, even if he was left with nothing.” Family friend Jennifer Gutierrez described Ruiz as someone who “loved to laugh, loved his family, was raised with morals and ethics, and had dreams for his life.”²

What Happened to Angelo Baldonado

Baldonado, 16 at the time of the shooting, was initially arrested and charged with murder. After investigators connected his mother to the killing, the murder charge against him was resolved through a plea deal. In 2023, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and assault with intent to commit a violent felony, and he was sentenced to remain in the Bernalillo County Youth Diagnostic and Development Center until age 21.¹

1
Albuquerque Journal. Belen Woman Sentenced to 18 Years in 2022 Shooting Death
2
KRQE. Albuquerque Mother Who Killed Daughter’s Boyfriend Sentenced to 18 Years Behind Bars
3
KRQE. Teen Takes Deal After His Mother Is Connected to Fatal Albuquerque Shooting
4
Sacramento Bee. Mom Pinned Murder on Own Son
5
True Crime News. New Mexico Albuquerque Elizabeth Ortiz-Chavez Sentenced Murder Daughter’s Ex
6
KRQE. Albuquerque Mother Charged in Teen’s Murder to Stay in Jail Until Trial
7
Law and Crime. Mom Pinned Murder of Pregnant Teen’s Boyfriend on Own Son, Had Photos of Sexually Exploited Kids on Tablet
8
KOAT. Woman Charged With Sexual Exploitation of Children
9
KRQE. Woman Pleads Guilty to Killing Teen in Downtown Albuquerque