American Homicide - S1: E2 – The Father’s Day Murders, Part 2

Episode Date: October 17, 2024

In October 2012, Ashley Roybal, 25, was arrested for burglary and stunned investigators by revealing her knowledge of the unsolved 2011 Ortiz family murders. As detectives investigate, they unravel a complex web of new leads and conflicting accounts.  To reach out to the American Homicide team, please email us at [e-mail]. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Audio Up, the creators of Stephen King's Strawberry Spring, comes The Unborn, a shocking true story. My babies, please! My babies! One woman, two lives, and a secret she would kill to protect. She went crazy and shot and killed all her farm animals. Slaughtered them in front of the kids. Tried to burn their house down. Listen to The Unborn on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast Post Run High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into

their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, listeners. I'm Sloane Glass, host of the American Homicide Podcast, and I'm excited to share this riveting story with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can now get access to all episodes of Season 1 of American Homicide 100% ad-free and one week early through the iHeart True Crime Plus subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Plus, you'll get access to other chart-topping true crime shows you'll love, like The Girlfriends, Betrayal, There and Gone South Street, Creating a Con, The Story of BitCon, Paper Ghosts, Piketon Massacre, murder homes, and more.

So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts, search for iHeartTrue Crime Plus, and subscribe today. All right, Ashley, you have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer now

and have him or her... It's October 2012, and 25-year-old Ashley Roybal is in custody in New Mexico. She was charged with burglary and felony larceny and waived her right to remain silent. Instead, Ashley told investigators that she had some information about the unsolved murders of Lloyd, Dixie, and Stephen Ortiz. The three were bludgeoned to death by a pickaxe on Father's Day 2011 in the tiny town of El Rancho, New Mexico. I'm actually the lead case agent on the triple homicide of the Ortiz family in El Rancho. Okay. It had been 16 months and there had been no arrests or even major leads in the case. The victim's daughter, Cherie,

was the only person talked about in town as a potential suspect. I understand that you know some details. I know who did it. Imagine how surprised detectives were when Ashley says she knows who killed Lloyd, Dixie, and Stephen Ortiz. So why are you telling us? Because it's not right. Dixie and I are good people. I grew up with Stephen.

I went to school with him. You know what I mean? Yeah, detectives knew what she meant. Ashley Roybal says she was close with all three and mentioned that when her own mother died, it was Lloyd and Dixie who helped pay for her funeral. I wanted to come forward, you know what come forward, and I just couldn't. So Ashley Roybal was finally ready to break her silence.

I'm Sloane Glass, and this is the conclusion of the Father's Day murders on American Homicide. This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable for all audiences. Discretion is advised. I've known Ashley since around 2001. Pastor John Trujillo first met Ashley Roybal when she was in middle school. She started coming to church as a little girl. Ashley and her sisters, we absolutely loved. She was always at the church, always.

I don't think there was a day that would go by that her and her sisters were never at the church. They would come and clean, they would come and help us with the yard, they would help us with performances, with dramas. They were always part of our church, they were always part of our family. The pastor also knew Ashley outside of the church. She grew up with my sons because they were all the same age. She even went to prom with my oldest son. It was strange because she was always willing to help. But as she got older, she became less and less involved in the church,

to the point where she never came back again. All he knew is what he heard. Then Ashley went down the proverbial wrong path. I would hear bits and pieces that she was running with some of the wrong people, with the wrong crowd, drinking, drug use, you know, even to the point where she was even getting involved doing things a little bit criminal. By the time Ashley turned 25, she racked up a lengthy rap sheet, including three felonies. Following her arrest in 2012, she decided to clear her conscience. She told the police she had firsthand information about the 2011 triple murder in El Rancho.

So it was Father's Day? Father's Day. Okay. Ashley said back in the early morning hours of Father's Day 2011, Nick Ortiz needed Ashley to pick him up. But why did he call Ashley? Well, despite the fact that she was several years older than him, Nick was Ashley's ex-boyfriend. So this gets a little confusing.

Although Nick shared the same last name as Lloyd, Dixie, and Steven, they aren't related. But they did act like family. And along with that, Nick was friends with Cherie Ortiz's son and her brother Stephen. Nick even lived with Cherie for a few weeks when he was having issues with his parents. She would invite him to stay there, spend the night sometimes. He became, you know, good friends with Cherie, Jesse, you know, the kids. And he was part of our church. Nick Ortiz also went to Pastor John's church.

Nicholas was there almost pretty consistently. And I was willing to help. If we were doing something at the church, what do you need me to do? Or he would go to the youth pastor and say, you know, what can I help out with this? Or what can I do here? And, you know, constantly wanting to be part of what we were doing. You know, he showed himself to be part of what we were doing. You know, he showed himself to be a pleasant young man.

Let's get back to what happened in the early morning hours of Father's Day 2011 when Nick called Ashley for a ride. Do you remember how he sounded on the phone? Panicked. He sounded like he was in trouble? Yeah. Just come get me, he said. According to Ashley, Nick said he was near Stephen Ortiz's house, so Ashley drove there. But when she arrived, she knew something was wrong.

Nick looked disheveled, and he had a trash bag covering his shoes. You heard that right. Ashley says Nick admitted to killing Lloyd, Dixie and Stephen Ortiz. Did he ever give an explanation why it happened? Well, he told me his intentions were to go and rob them. Ashley said Nick knew Lloyd had cash and a marijuana grow at the house because he had spent so much time there. But instead of robbing them, Nick killed all three and then left without any money or drugs. And then, according to Ashley, he threatened her and told her she better keep quiet. We've talked to Nick a couple times already. But if he decides to give it up and starts naming a bunch of other names,

we need to know if you're going to come up. I mean, I did pick him up that night, but that's all I did. So as you can imagine, the detectives wondered why Ashley finally decided to break her silence. They spent the next few days looking into Ashley's story. And when they reviewed Nick Ortiz's cell phone records from the night of the murders, something stood out. So they brought Ashley back for more questioning. There's a lot more that you're not telling us. Again, there's a lot more involvement from some different people. And that's what we need to clarify.

After combing Nick's cell phone records from that night, they learned a third person was involved. So who else was there that night? Jose. Ashley said this mysterious third person was Jose. So why protect Jose? Ashley said she was protecting Jose because he is her cousin. At the time of the murders, Jose Roybal was just 15 years old.

And omitting this information upset detectives. I don't want to call the district attorney and say she gave us a lot of good information, but for some reason she withheld this from us. We don't need that. And that's when Ashley changed her story and admitted that her cousin Jose was also there that night. Reporter Alex Tomlin covered this story.

So Ashley tells the police that they concoct this plan to go over and steal money and marijuana. And that Nicholas knows the house. He knows the family. It's going to be in and out, right? She drops the two guys, Jose and Nick, off at the family's house. The way the story goes from there is Jose kind of backs out, doesn't want to be part of that. But Nicholas decides to go ahead and go in. And he goes in, he commits the crimes, and he calls to get picked up.

And she picks him up. He's obviously disheveled. I'm sure he's extremely covered in blood after this horrific crime. And he's thrown the pickaxe, which was later found in the field. Ashley Roybal gives him a place to stay, cleans him up, all that. And really, they all kept quiet. The police then questioned Jose Roybal, and Jose said Ashley's story was not true. He claims it was Ashley who came up with the idea

to go in and murder the Ortiz's. She supposedly gives them socks to cover their hands, trash bags to cover their feet. Not only that, but Jose said Ashley left out another key detail. She's the one who provided the murder weapon, her grandfather's pickaxe. All of it left investigators wondering who and what to believe. There's things that kind of don't match up, there's shifting stories, and then of course there's always the element that again she was facing her own criminal charges on other things. So with Ashley and Jose, the question always remains what part did they really play? Although the cousins disagreed on some major details, they both told investigators that the murderer was Nick Ortiz.

It also just seemed so random. It was almost like the answer everyone had been waiting for, that surely someone must have broken in for something and done this. But at the same time, it's been several years. Nobody had heard anything. All of a sudden it comes forward that it's these teenagers. And not only is it teenagers, it's teenagers who had been welcomed with open arms into this family. And that was even more of a blow, you know, but it started to make sense that, well, yeah, because he knew the house.

He knew how they were. He knew that he could get in and supposedly that they had this cash. Nick was living with the Ortiz's, but then just two weeks before the murders, Nick had a falling out with them and Lloyd kicked Nick out. But were things so bad that Nick returned to kill them? The only thing that adds up to me is thinking about it in the mindset of a teenager. Quick cash, some pot, it's going to be easy. And it just, you know, but yeah, I mean, like as an adult sitting here, what? Like everything about this is so ridiculous.

The detectives have to figure out who's telling the truth, Ashley or Jose Roybal. And they figured the best way to do that was to question Nick Ortiz. In the quiet town of Avella, Pennsylvania, Jared and Christy Akron seemed to have it all. A whirlwind romance, a new home and twins on the way. What no one knew was that Christy was hiding a secret so shocking it would tear their world apart. 911 response, what's your emergency? My babies, please! My babies! One woman, two lives, and the truth more terrifying than anyone could imagine.

They had her as one of the suspects, but they could never prove it. You're going to go to jail if you don't come with us right now. Throughout this whole thing, I kept telling myself, nobody's that crazy. Uncover the chilling mystery that will leave you questioning everything. A story of the lengths we go to protect our darkest secrets. She went batshit crazy, shot and killed all her farm animals. Slaughtered them in front of the kids. Tried to burn their house down.

Audio Web presents The Unborn on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this. Start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel.

I am the Queen of Laudonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Capraburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Mentonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. The Waikana tribe owned country. My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory.

I was making a rocket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warhead. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullets. We need help! We need help! We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, I'm Madison Packer, a pro hockey veteran going on my 10th season in New York. And I'm Anya Packer, a former pro hockey player and now a full Madison Packer stan. Anya and I met through hockey, and now we're married and moms to two awesome toddlers. And on our new podcast, Moms Who Puck, we're opening up about the chaos of our daily lives between the juggle of being athletes, raising children, and all the messiness in between. We're also turning to fellow athletes and beyond to learn about their parenthood journeys and collect valuable advice, like FIFA World Cup winner Ashlyn Harris. I wish my village

would have prepared me for how hard motherhood was going to be. And Peloton instructor and Ratchet Mom Club founder, Kirsten Ferguson. And I remember going in there a hot mess. So listen to Moms Who Puck, a production of iHeart Women's Sports and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Ashley Roybal is talking to New Mexico State Police. That's because the town of El Rancho, where the murder of Lloyd, Dixie, and Stephen Ortiz happened, doesn't have their own police force. So the state police had to get involved. According to Ashley, she said her ex-boyfriend Nick Ortiz killed Lloyd, Dixie, and Stephen Ortiz.

Keep in mind that Nick shares the same last name of the victims, but they aren't related. But Ashley's cousin Jose says Ashley is the one who came up with the idea to murder the Ortizes. He says she even provided the pickaxe. Ashley refuted this. She claimed she was simply the getaway driver that night. Ashley refuted this. She claimed she was simply the getaway driver that night.

Despite their differences, both cousins accused Nick Ortiz of actually carrying out the murders. And in another crazy twist, the state police heard a third version of what happened when they questioned Nick Ortiz. Your name has come up quite a bit. And we're talking in reference to the Ortiz homicide, which happened a little over two years ago, 2011. And I know we had talked to you a few times about it, so I'm hoping that you can run me by

pretty much what happened. So Nick agreed that he was with Jose Roybal the day before the murders. We had never just been hanging out, just normal stuff, drinking a little bit, getting high. But Nick said he was back home with his parents by 10 p.m. that night. And then what'd you do after 10 p.m.? I watched a few movies. I woke my dad up around 12, 1 in the morning, and tell him happy Father's Day.

After that, I went to sleep. It's not easy to make out what Nick is saying, but he told investigators that after watching a few movies, he woke up his dad around 12 or 1 a.m. to wish him a happy Father's Day. And then Nick said he went back to sleep. I have phone records that prove that you were at a certain place after 10pm and it wasn't home. I've talked to Jose

recently, and I know that you guys were together after 10pm. I know he didn't drive you home at that time, and if he did, you guys left again later. I don't know if I was with him and Ashley. I don't know. I know you were with him. Yeah. Because you want to know something that's really interesting? Her phone shows the same spot.

You want to know where that place is at? Where? It's her T's residence. Okay. You were there that night. I, uh, I'm going to be honest with you. And this is, this is really the only thing I can remember. Okay.

We had, uh, broken into their house and, uh, stole a gun. You said this was at Steven's house, right? Yeah. How'd you guys get into the house? Okay. You said this was at Stephen's house, right? Yeah. How'd you guys get into the house? Okay. So Nick admitted to breaking into the Ortiz's house and stealing a gun. But he didn't admit to the murders. I know you guys did some stuff after that.

We've talked to all these people. We've done so much work. It's been two years. These people have finally decided to say, I don't want to lie to you guys anymore. This is what happened. So why are these people putting themselves at or around the Ortiz residence and saying they were with you? Why would they throw themselves under the bus? I don't know.

This doesn't look good for you, Nick. I just, I mean, I want this to be over as much as you guys do. Believe me, I do. I'm tired of having to look over my shoulder. I know you guys follow me. I'm not dumb. I see you guys every now and then. And I'm just, I'm tired of it. I just want it to be over. After 90 minutes of back and forth, investigators finally had Nick cornered.

But they weren't expecting what he said next. Nicholas, when he was in church, really never told us a whole lot about any of this. John Trujillo was the pastor at Nick's church. At one point, Nicholas did. Nicholas came and says, it feels like something's unraveling or coming down the pipe and I just need some prayer. And I said, well, what's going on? What did you do? What happened? He says, well, I can't say anything right now, but can you at least, can you just pray for me? And you could see that he was very troubled.

So we prayed with him. I kind of had my suspicions that this was because of the murders. Because, you know, just how distraught he was and how nervous he was and how scared he was. That was a different type of scare. It wasn't like a scare you were going to get in trouble for wrecking the car or for getting a speeding ticket. This was a deep-rooted fear that I saw in him. In small towns like El Rancho, everybody knew one another. And if someone was in trouble, it was public knowledge.

So at that point, I'm like, okay, now it's starting to make sense. point I'm like, okay, now it's starting to make sense. Now I can understand that deep, deep, deep fear that Nicholas was dealing with because all this was starting to come undone. In February 2015, almost four years after the murders, police finally put a warrant out for Nick Ortiz's arrest. Cherie and Jesse Ortiz, who earlier were thought to be suspects, were stunned. They were in shock. Almost disbelief. He

stayed with them. You know, he was part of their family. He's part of the church family. We couldn't believe it. I was like, the Nicholas that's helping out? The Nicholas that's here every night? The Nicholas? Like, huh.

I never saw that coming at all. Nick Ortiz was charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Some people were in such disbelief. They're wrong. He didn't do it. He didn't do it. Then you had those that were saying, finally, they caught the killer. I knew it was him.

I knew it was him. I knew it was him. With a small town divided, Nick Ortiz's trial kicked off in the summer of 2016. My name is Dan Marlow. I was hired by Nicholas Ortiz's mother and father to represent him on the charges of murder. present him on the charges of murder. The trial was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, about 25 miles from the murder scene. I've done a lot, a lot of trials.

I try not to overreact to anything, to just be neutral and fair and even keeled. But, you know, I have to say, I was uncomfortable, you know, with the large contingent of people from El Rancho. The El Rancho group was made up of friends and neighbors of the victims who wanted to see Nick Ortiz locked up for life. I was concerned that there was going to be some kind of physical confrontation out in the front of the courthouse between the Ortiz family and the group from El Rancho. So there was some sparks there, definitely. It took the police nearly four years to charge Nick Ortiz,

and his lawyer thought the case against him was weak. The defendant in this case had a real tight relationship with the Ortiz family. He was almost like one of their children. He loved both of them, both Dixie and Lloyd, and got along really well with them. At the time of the murders, Nick Ortiz was just 16 years old. A scroll through his social media account showed a teenager who took a lot of shirtless selfies and posted motivational quotes like, your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow. But the thing that stood out the most in the courtroom was that Nick stood just five feet, five inches tall. Was he capable of

pickaxing three people to death? Wasn't the kind of person that would do something like this, in my perception. And I believe that he did not do it. I believe that he may have had something to do with planning it or saying, yeah, let's go in and get this money. But he did not want anything to do with the physicality of killing these people. At the trial, jurors heard from two witnesses testifying that they heard Nick admit to the murders.

But one of those witnesses was incarcerated at the time of the trial. Cherie's son Robert also testified. He said he was friends with Nick Ortiz and that Nick joined the family on trips. They were generous to him. Nick even lived at their house for a few months while he was having problems at home. But things changed just two weeks before the murders. Lloyd caught Nick trying to steal from them and kicked him out.

As heartbreaking as it is to hear Robert's testimony against Nick, the prosecution's two key witnesses were cousins Ashley and Jose Roybal. Both of those individuals were cousins and Jose knew Nicholas. They were bros, so to speak, considered themselves to be gang members, although there was no gang that they were really associated with.

Ashley testified that the plan was to rob the Ortiz's of money and marijuana and that she was simply the getaway driver. But her cousin Jose disagreed. He said it was Ashley who came up with the idea of murdering the Ortiz's. Although their stories differed, they did agree on one thing. Both he and Ashley said that Nicholas was the one that did it. And Jose and Ashley's story did not match in any way during the planning, after the commission of the crime, all of that.

Which showed me that there was some problems there. There was conflicts in the testimony. Aside from their stories not matching up, the defense claimed both witnesses had some real credibility issues. Ashley was in her mid-20s and already had three prior felony convictions. When she was facing new charges, that's when she decided to cooperate with the police and name Nick as the killer. The defense pointed out how prosecutors offered Ashley some leniency in exchange for testimony.

And she and Jose were real tight. They were first cousins. They had every reason to put the blame on Nicholas in order to get out of it. Huge motive. Jose Roybal was just 15 years old at the time of the murders, and in exchange for his testimony, he received immunity. Of course, I'm a naturally suspicious person because I'm a defense lawyer, but these are the kind of things that I look at that didn't set right with me.

The defense argued that there was no physical evidence linking Nick Ortiz to the murders. There was nothing. There was no DNA, no fingerprints, nothing. Nick Ortiz did not take the stand in his own defense, but his parents did. They testified that on the evening before Father's Day, they all had dinner together and then watched movies. Nick's father said he was in bed just after midnight when Nick came into his bedroom to wish him a happy Father's Day. His mother had even more to say. She said she saw Nick sleeping on the couch when she returned home from work the next morning. Basically, they saw him earlier that evening and then they didn't see him for a while. Then he was there the next morning. But even though the intention was to

help their son, they did him no favors when they shared this. They said Nick never stayed at Cherie's house. The only time he spent any extended period away from home was with a relative. The defense then shifted back to the murder victim's daughter, Cherie Ortiz. Cherie was always complaining about not having any money, always whining about it and her conflict with Lloyd and the fact that she needed money and was willing to do anything to get money. That's why I suspected that she

was part of it. And I still do suspect that and I probably always will. The case went to the jury on the Thursday before Memorial Day. By the following Wednesday, a week later, the jury remained hopelessly deadlocked. Just eight of the 12 jurors voted to convict Nick, which resulted in a hung jury. Which means a hung jury is a mistrial. Then you just retry the case again. Six months would pass before Nick Ortiz's retrial. his retrial. In the quiet town of Avella, Pennsylvania, Jared and Christy Akron seemed to have it all.

A whirlwind romance, a new home and twins on the way. What no one knew was that Christy was hiding a secret so shocking it would tear their world apart. 911 response, what's your emergency? My babies, please! My babies! One woman, two lives, and the truth more terrifying than anyone could imagine. They had her as one of the suspects, but they could never prove it. You're going to go to jail if you don't come with us right now. Throughout this whole thing, I kept telling myself, nobody's that crazy.

Uncover the chilling mystery that will leave you questioning everything. A story of the lengths we go to protect our darkest secrets. She went batshit crazy, shot and killed all her farm animals, slaughtered them in front of the kids, tried to burn her house down. Audio Up presents The Unborn on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this. Start your own country.

I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of Ladonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Kaperburg. I am the Supreme Leader

of the Grand Republic of Mentonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. The Waikana tribe own country. My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warhead. Oh my god.

What is that? Bullets. Bullets. We need help! We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. two awesome toddlers. And on our new podcast, Moms Who Puck, we're opening up about the chaos of our daily lives between the juggle of being athletes, raising children, and all the messiness in between. We're also turning to fellow athletes and beyond to learn about their parenthood journeys and collect valuable advice, like FIFA World Cup winner Ashlyn Harris.

I wish my village would have prepared me for how hard motherhood was going to be. And Peloton instructor and Ratchet Mom Club founder, Kirsten Ferguson. And I remember going in there a hot mess. So listen to Moms Who Puck, a production of iHeart Women's Sports and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. It took nearly four years for the police to charge Nick Ortiz with murdering

Lloyd, Dixie, and Steven Ortiz. And after a hung jury in his first trial, he was retried just after Thanksgiving 2016. Prosecutors painted Nick as a cold-blooded teenage killer. But the defense claimed that Nick had been set up and the real killer was Jose Roybal. Dan Marlowe was Nick's lawyer. I believe that Jose was hired to do this killing. And I think somebody else came in there and cleaned the scene up completely so that there was no prints, there was no DNA. It was just, was not what you would think would happen in a scene like that.

Although Jose Roybal freely admitted that he was at the scene that night, he was never charged in the Ortiz case and received immunity in exchange for his testimony against Nick. He never spent a day in jail on this, not even an hour. He wasn't even a suspect. So the defense lawyer told jurors that Jose walked around free as a bird with blood on his hands. There's no way around that, in my opinion. Who knows what a jury's going to do?

Nobody. This time, the jury deliberated for two days and then returned with a verdict. On the three counts of first-degree murder, they found Nick Ortiz guilty. Nick buried his head in his hands as his family members inside the courtroom burst into tears. Then things got ugly. Nick was handcuffed and ushered out of the courtroom. His mother shouted profanities at prosecutors and vowed to appeal. The prosecutors didn't say a word and just exited the courthouse. For Cherie Ortiz, the nightmare for her and her family was finally over. Or was it?

About nine months later, a district judge reversed Nick Ortiz's conviction. In front of a packed courtroom, the judge said there had been a fundamental error with the jury instructions in the second trial. The courtroom was stunned. Nick Ortiz's family erupted in excitement and hugged one another. Even Nick's lawyer was surprised by the judge's decision. It was highly, highly unusual. Sheree Ortiz quickly exited without speaking to reporters. And the judge never elaborated

on what was the fundamental error in the jury instructions. He also ordered that Nick be tried a third time. But then in 2019, two years later and eight years after the murders, the New Mexico State Supreme Court struck down the ruling and upheld Nick's conviction. And here, the decision came down to a technicality. Nick's legal team didn't file his appeal within the 10 days from the time of his conviction. Whether you believe Nick is guilty or not, it seems crazy that a lack of paperwork is what resulted in him getting a conviction. Defense lawyer Dan Marlowe agrees.

He called the decision disgusting and cowardly. As for Nick's former girlfriend Ashley Roybal, she was charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence. As part of her plea deal with prosecutors, she'll serve no more than 10 and a half years in prison. Meanwhile, Nick Ortiz faced up to 93 years behind bars. His lawyer argued that Nick needed rehabilitation services like therapy and probation, not prison time. The judge disagreed and sentenced Nick to 25 years for each count of first-degree murder. But Nick caught a break here because the judge allowed Nick to serve those sentences concurrently. He is given 25 years and in New

Mexico he will earn good time. TV reporter Alex Tomlin covered the story. So he will not spend most likely those 25 years in prison. He will be out before that. New Mexico state law mandates Nick Ortiz to serve at least 85% of his 25-year sentence. With good behavior, he could be eligible for parole sometime around the year 2036, when Nick will be in his early 40s. New Mexico has some interesting sentencing laws. Sheree Ortiz called the sentence a slap in the face to her family and the New Mexico justice system.

She placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the judge, said she believes the New Mexico justice system is broken. If you're part of the Ortiz family, it's never going to be, oh, this is Cherie and her husband. It's always going to be, oh yeah, your parents were murdered. Oh yeah, your brother was pickaxed to death. You know, it's always going to follow them. And it's going to almost kind of be like a scarlet letter. Today, Sheree Ortiz and her family still live on the property where her parents and brother were slaughtered. And I hope for her, she's found some peace and that that mourning doesn't haunt her.

While Ashley Roybal and Nick Ortiz received time in prison, Jose Roybal got off scot-free. And listen to this. In 2019, Cherie Ortiz told a local newspaper that Jose had even asked to collect a reward for helping to solve the murders. It becomes almost every man for themselves. And that's kind of what happened in this case. Every man for themselves. Pastor John Trujillo continues to pray for Cherie Ortiz and the community. They're a very loved family in our community. The church backs them.

The community backs them. Cherie's recently become a grandma. That helps with the healing process. It does. But this will always be there. It will never, ever go away. It's hard enough to lose a family member to death, but to lose three through murder, that's a tough one.

Yes, it is. So as you can imagine, the Father's Day holiday continues to be a painful reminder now, Rancho, of the grisly murders of 2011. This will always stay in our hearts and in our mindset that on Father's Day, this horrific crime took place. But it didn't have to end this way. It didn't. If it was a burglary that even went wrong, run. But to end the lives of three innocent people like this makes no sense at all. I've been passionate in this community for 20 years. We've never experienced or seen anything like this.

And I pray we never, ever do again. Next time on American Homicide, a young woman goes missing on the eve of her 21st birthday. After her body turns up, the search for the killer leads detectives to one of the most unlikely places, a church. I'm Sloan Glass. We'll be in Albuquerque, New Mexico. See you next week. You can contact the American Homicide team by emailing us at AmericanHomicidePod at gmail.com. That's AmericanHomicidePod at gmail.com. American Homicide is hosted and written by me, Sloane Glass, and is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group

in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Todd Gans. The series is also written and produced by Todd Gans, with additional writing by Ben Fetterman and Andrea Gunning. Our associate producer is

Kristen Malkuri. Our iHeart team is Allie Perry and Jessica Kreinchak. Audio editing and mixing by Matt Dalvecchio. Additional editing support from Nick Arruca, Tanner Robbins, Britt Robichaux, Dave Sayah, and Patrick Walsh. American Homicide's theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of Noiser. Music library provided by MyMusic. Follow American Homicide on Apple Podcasts. And please rate and review American Homicide. Your five-star review goes a long way towards helping others find this show. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. From Audio Up, the creators of Stephen King's Strawberry Spring, comes The Unborn, a shocking true story. My babies, please!

My babies! One woman, two lives, and a secret she would kill to protect. She went crazy. She shot and killed all her farm animals. Slaughtered them in front of the kids. Tried to burn their house down. Listen to The Unborn on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's what my podcast Post Run High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, listeners. I'm Sloane Glass, host of the American Homicide podcast, and I'm excited to share this riveting story with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can now get access to all episodes of Season 1 of American Homicide 100% ad-free and one week early through the iHeart True Crime Plus subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Heart True Crime Plus subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Plus, you'll get access to other chart-topping true crime shows you'll love, like The Girlfriends, Betrayal, There and Gone South Street, Creating a Con, The Story of BitCont, Paper Ghosts, Piketon Massacre, Murder Holmes, and more. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts, search for I Heart True Crime Plus, and subscribe today.