The search for a New Mexican murder suspect is ongoing after he cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared, officials said.
Police are searching for 41-year-old Joe Simon Hilario Anderson, who disappeared amid a court battle over his release from jail pending trial. Cops noticed the man was gone when they went to arrest him and take him back to jail on Tuesday, February 7, after a New Mexico Supreme Court judge ordered him back into custody.
Anderson was charged with the August 6 murder of Raymond Aviles in Albuquerque. Authorities accused him of shooting Aviles as he took off on a motorcycle at around 1 am.
At around 3 pm on Monday, February 6, the New Mexico Supreme Court ordered that Anderson should be in custody until his hearing. The ruling reversed an earlier decision by a district court judge to grant the suspect bail.
A day after the Supreme Court ruled that Anderson be detained, a warrant for his arrest was issued. The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office announced that they had learned on Tuesday afternoon that Anderson had cut off his electronic monitoring device and taken off.
DA Bregman said in a statement on Tuesday that Anderson’s actions were the reason why they wanted to detain him.
The DA’s office said law enforcement officers from multiple agencies, including their own, were out searching for Anderson, urging anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact the police.
It is not the first time that Anderson has faced criminal charges.
In 2016, the suspect was convicted of voluntary manslaughter after he was accused of fatally shooting Vicente Sanchez in 2010 during a fight that broke out at a house party. Anderson served seven years in prison for the murder.
On August 18, 2022, police caught Anderson in a stolen car with fentanyl and a gun and arrested him. He had not yet been linked to the August 6 murder of Aviles.
Although prosecutors fought to keep him locked up until trial, a judge let him out. Anderson was later linked to the August 6 murder. He was arrested and charged in December. Once again, a judge denied the prosecutor’s request for pretrial detention but ordered him to stay under house arrest.
