Investigators say recorded statements, witness accounts and evidence recovered from a hallway connect Mark Leib to his son’s Sept. 20 death.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Police investigating the fatal shooting of 34-year-old Matthew Leib collected more than eyewitness accounts from his North Valley home: They recovered a shotgun, two spent shell casings and hallway impact evidence and obtained a 911 call in which a man investigators linked to the victim’s father allegedly acknowledged the killing.
The combination of recorded statements and physical evidence forms a central part of the early case against Mark Leib, 64, who is accused of killing his adult son during a confrontation Sept. 20. He faces an open count of murder, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The evidence described in the criminal complaint has not been tested at trial, and none of the charges constitutes a finding of guilt.
One emergency call was especially important to investigators because it did not come from the witnesses who had been inside the house with Matthew Leib. Police obtained a call made from a blocked or unidentified number and said they believed Mark Leib was the caller. According to reports based on the complaint, the man repeatedly admitted killing his son. Officers also said Leib made statements about the killing after they detained him, giving investigators alleged admissions that could be examined alongside the physical scene.
Another 911 call was unfolding inside the home. Matthew Leib’s girlfriend had returned after initially escaping the armed confrontation and found him wounded in a hallway, according to police. She contacted emergency dispatchers while staying with him. Investigators allege that Mark Leib then struck her multiple times with the stock of the shotgun as she remained beside Matthew. The allegation led to an aggravated-battery charge in addition to the homicide count and the assault charges tied to the earlier confrontation.
Police eventually secured the house and documented evidence that reports say included the firearm, two spent shells and marks where projectiles had struck hallway walls. Matthew Leib was found there with gunshot wounds to his chest. The complaint does not provide, in the public reports reviewed, a complete forensic reconstruction explaining every shot or impact. That leaves the physical evidence significant but incomplete in the public record: It can be compared with witness accounts, but a final evidentiary interpretation would depend on investigative findings and court proceedings.
To understand why police focused on Mark Leib, investigators also reconstructed what happened before the emergency calls. Matthew Leib had been at the home with his girlfriend and another friend. The older Leib returned and began making threatening statements, witnesses said. The friend described becoming worried that someone might be hurt and started preparing to leave. Matthew Leib’s girlfriend tried to move Mark Leib away from the group and initially got him into a bedroom, according to the complaint.
The effort to isolate the dispute failed when Mark Leib allegedly reappeared with a shotgun. The girlfriend told investigators that a physical confrontation followed as she tried to push him away or back into another room. He allegedly grabbed her clothing, and the two exchanged blows. The encounter then became an armed threat when police say Leib pointed the shotgun at her and threatened to kill her. The accusation would later form part of the state’s case involving conduct directed at people other than Matthew.
Matthew Leib intervened at that point, according to the friend. Investigators were told that the younger man placed himself between his father and his girlfriend and confronted him over the weapon. The father then allegedly threatened Matthew as well. The girlfriend and the friend moved outside and left the immediate danger in separate vehicles, but Matthew did not leave with them. When they recognized that he was still at the residence, they went back to find him.
Their return supplied the next part of the chronology that investigators would compare with the emergency calls. Police say Mark Leib came out and told them he had shot his son. Matthew’s girlfriend rushed into the house, found him in the hallway and sought emergency assistance. First responders were unable to save him. The reports reviewed describe multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, even though one statement allegedly made outside the house referred differently to where Matthew had been shot. The physical and medical evidence, rather than the alleged remark alone, would be expected to determine the documented injuries.
A neighbor’s account gave police a separate time marker. The neighbor reported hearing a loud gathering, an argument and two sharp sounds she thought might have been gunfire. The Albuquerque Journal reported that officers were dispatched to the Sabre Court home at about 11:18 p.m. The neighbor was not described as an eyewitness to the shooting itself, but the sounds she reported were broadly consistent with investigators examining a scene where two spent shells were later found.
After his arrest, detectives attempted to interview Mark Leib more formally. Police said he had been advised of his Miranda rights before he declined to answer their questions and indicated he would invoke the Fifth Amendment. A defendant’s choice to remain silent is constitutionally protected and cannot substitute for proof of the charges. The prosecution instead must rely on admissible evidence developed independently, including any statements legally obtained before the invocation, witness testimony, recordings and physical or forensic evidence.
That evidentiary distinction will matter if the case moves toward trial. A homicide prosecution can involve several different questions that the first complaint does not resolve on its own: whether the defendant caused the death, what mental state the state can prove, whether each alleged threat or assault occurred as described and whether any evidence is excluded after pretrial challenges. New Mexico court materials recognize that murder may be charged through an open count, but the state still bears the burden of proving the elements of the offense ultimately submitted to a judge or jury.
The Albuquerque Police Department’s public homicide database lists the Sept. 20 Sabre Court killing as solved and identifies one suspect and a firearm. That is an investigative classification, not a court verdict. The department reported that, as of Nov. 6, 43 of the city’s 50 homicide cases for 2026 were solved. The Sabre Court entry is among five September homicide cases listed by the department and one of four from that month shown as solved.
The public record also contains a location discrepancy that illustrates why individual documents remain important as the case develops. Initial news reports described the scene in the 6200 block of Sabre Court and identified the residence as 6221 Sabre Court NW, while the city’s current homicide-statistics table lists the Sept. 20 case at 6224 Sabre Court NW. Both sources describe the same date and homicide investigation. The available material reviewed here does not explain the difference, so the broader block location is the most prudent description absent a definitive later court record.
No reliable source located in the current review showed that the homicide charge had been resolved by Nov. 7. The criminal case therefore remains defined publicly by the evidence gathered at the beginning: witnesses who described an escalating armed confrontation, emergency calls associated with the aftermath, a firearm and spent shells recovered from the home, and statements police attributed to the accused. Prosecutors will have to establish the legal meaning of that evidence in court, where Mark Leib retains the presumption of innocence.
Author note: Last updated November 7, 2026.