A murder charge against a Hernández man recently was dropped as the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office turned its focus on a different suspect in the Oct. 17 shooting death of Elmer Sanchez Jr.
Court documents say Sanchez was fatally shot during an argument with two neighbors in the mobile home park where he lived in the small community of Hernández, just north of Española. Sanchez believed 22-year-old Kevin Martinez — the grandson of the property’s landlord — had wounded his dog with a gunshot.
Jerrid Maestas, 28, initially was charged with first-degree murder.
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