The case against Erica Valdez included gunfire at a house, a fatal street shooting and a plea that brought a 15-year sentence.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Shell casings, surveillance audio and a 911 call helped police connect two shooting scenes before Erica Valdez admitted killing her husband, Joel Valdez, on July 4, 2023.
The evidence became part of a Bernalillo County case that ended with a 15-year prison sentence. Erica Valdez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement and shooting at a dwelling with a firearm enhancement. Prosecutors said the physical evidence showed the fatal shooting was tied to an earlier attack at the home the couple shared, not a separate event. They sought 25 years, but the judge imposed 15.
The first scene was the Andrews Avenue home where Erica and Joel Valdez had lived. Police said Erica Valdez arrived there around 9:40 p.m., pointed a handgun at Joel Valdez’s chest and left as gunfire erupted nearby. A 911 call came from the home at 9:41 p.m. Investigators said a woman could be heard saying, “I am going to shoot you and hit you with this gun,” along with a threat aimed at the woman who was with Joel Valdez. As Erica Valdez’s car left, surveillance video captured what police described as a volley of automatic gunfire. Officers later found bullet damage at the house. A relative also told police Erica Valdez called and said, “I just sprayed the house.”
The second scene was on 98th Street, where Joel Valdez was found dead next to his car. Police said Erica Valdez returned to the area about two hours after the house shooting with another male believed to be James Sena. Surveillance showed a car come back to the area shortly after 11 p.m., followed by another verbal confrontation and another burst of gunfire as the car left. Family members then found Joel Valdez’s car with a door open and saw a dark sedan believed to be Erica Valdez’s car leaving the area. His body was lying in the road. Investigators recovered casings in front of the home and on the road near the body. Police said the evidence showed two possible 10 mm firearms had been used in shootings that targeted Joel Valdez within a short span.
The path to the two scenes began earlier at a motel. Detectives said Erica Valdez and Sena had been dating, and Joel Valdez confronted them at a Motel 6 where Sena worked as a security guard. Joel Valdez was with a woman he had been seeing. Police said Sena pointed a handgun at Joel Valdez during the confrontation. Erica Valdez then appeared at the doorway with a handgun and ordered Joel Valdez and the woman to leave, according to investigators. The woman believed the gun had an extended clip. As Joel Valdez and the woman drove off, she heard four or five shots, though she did not know whether they were fired at them or into the air. That motel episode set the stage for the gunfire at the house and the fatal shooting later that night.
Authorities said the violence came after months of domestic conflict. Relatives told police the couple had fought often, and prosecutors said Erica Valdez had belittled Joel Valdez and called him a slur. The couple’s daughter told her father days before the killing that Erica Valdez had other relationships, according to court documents. Joel Valdez became angry and later began relationships outside the marriage, documents said. By the Fourth of July, both spouses were accusing each other of infidelity. Police also noted that Erica Valdez had been charged in April 2023 with 911 abuse after allegedly calling police 27 times to report domestic violence. The charge formed part of the broader history of police contact before the homicide.
The case moved from investigation to plea before sentencing. Erica Valdez was arrested in the days after the shooting and charged in her husband’s death. Sena was arrested later and charged with conspiracy to commit a first-degree felony after detectives said they believed he had a role in the events around the fatal confrontation. Police said the pair also were suspects in a separate shooting at a house on July 3, though public details about that matter remained limited. Sena’s conspiracy charge was dismissed after he took a 2024 plea deal for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Erica Valdez’s plea left the judge to decide the sentence for the admitted murder and dwelling shooting.
At sentencing, District Attorney Sam Bregman framed the proof around repeated attempts to harm Joel Valdez. Bregman said Valdez first fired at him with an automatic pistol while he was outside his home, then left and came back with Sena about two hours later. “She shot and killed him a few streets away,” Bregman said. The judge’s sentence came in below the prosecution request but above the minimum consequences tied to a murder conviction with a firearm enhancement. The case file still leaves some details unproven in public view, including who fired every round during the night and what exact words passed between the people at the final scene.
For now, Erica Valdez’s sentence leaves the murder conviction in place and makes the evidentiary record the final public account of the Fourth of July shooting. Sena’s dismissed conspiracy charge leaves no pending murder case against him in the public record.
Author note: Last updated June 15, 2026.