Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Baby-Faced Teens Plotted Killing for Inheritance Money: Police

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

Nineteen-year-old Darren Munoz called 911 to report a burglary — but police say it was all a lie. Investigators allege Munoz masterminded the execution-style murders of his own father and stepmother, recruiting his 18-year-old friend Julio Zamora to pull the trigger with a ghost gun so he could cash in on an inheritance. What officers say they found inside the home — and what was allegedly on Munoz’s phone — flipped the case instantly. Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy breaks down the arrest affidavit and alleged confessions in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Grow your own audience today – go to https://opus.pro/crimefix for 1 week free plus 50% off the first 3 months of Opus Pro.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:John DayCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A teenager calls 911 to report a burglary at his family's home, but when police arrive, they say the story just doesn't add up. What investigators uncovered next? They claim wasn't a break-in at all. They say it was a murder plot orchestrated by the son to collect an inheritance. I lay out the theory from detectives.

I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. Have you ever wondered how we are able to share so many clips from breaking news cases as they are unfolding? Well, here's a little secret. Opus Clip is an all-in-one AI editor that makes it a breeze to cut, create, and upload videos across any platform. Through AI, Opus Clip generates B-roll. It reframes footage and it even cleans up audio. Just visit opus.pro slash crime fix, sign up and upload within minutes you are going to have perfectly edited clips ready to go.

For TikTok, shorts, or reels, it's a one-stop shop. Having Opus clip means our producers can post viral updates instantly. This is the most powerful tool for sharing ideas and editing like a pro. So go to opus.comfix to create your video. your videos today. A teenage boy calls 911 reporting a horrific random burglary. His parents are found gun down in their bed when police arrive. They expect to find a break in, but allegedly they don't. What they say they find instead will turn this case inside out because investigators alleged this was never random and it was never about fear. It was all about money. It's December 22nd in

Clovis, New Mexico, and according to police, a 19-year-old named Darren Munoz called 911 early that morning reporting a possible burglary at his family's home. But when officers arrived, they say the scene just didn't match the story. Inside the home, Darren's stepmother, Dina Munoz, was found dead in bed, and his father, Oscar Munoz, had been shot in the head and was rushed to the hospital. There was actually hope that he could be saved, but Oscar would later die from his injuries. And according to investigators, nothing about the house looked like a burglary, no forced entry, nothing stolen, and then police say Darren started saying things that didn't add up. And they say he didn't act alone either. They say he recruited an 18-year-old friend

Julio Zamora to kill his parents using a ghost gun. That's a gun with no serial number that can't be traced, and the motive, they determined, was to collect his parents' inheritance. Now, both teens are in custody. Darren Munoz was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and criminal solicitation. Julio Zamora was also charged with two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy. But to understand how police say this case unraveled, you actually have to go back to the very first moments inside that house, because according to the arrest affidavit, when officers arrived at the York Street home after the burglary report, they found the garage door wide open and Darren is either in the garage or at the front of the residence, despite having just called

911 to report a burglary in progress. Investigators say Darren told officers everything was fine. But when the officer told Darren he needed to check on his parents inside the house, the affidavit says Darren hesitated, not because of safety. Not because he's not because he thought a burglar was still inside. But because, according to police, Darren offered a very specific explanation. He didn't really want Officer Smith to go inside because his parents slept naked. And then investigators note a critical detail. They say Darren walked into his parents' bedroom alone while they waited outside. And moments later, when Officer Smith saw Darren again emerge from the bedroom, Darren's hands were now covered in blood.

At that point, officers rushed into the room, and what they found immediately shifted this case. Smith and other responding officers went into the room and discovered a man and a woman shot in their room. The man was Darren's father, and the woman was Darren's stepmother. Oscar Munoz was still showing signs of life, although he had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Dina Munoz was deceased in her bed. Darren was detained and taken in for questioning in the first. that's where. According to police, his story starts to unravel. In his interview, Darren claimed he had been asleep and was awakened by the garage door alarm, not gunshots. Investigators say

that doesn't make sense. They wrote, it made no sense that Darren would hear the garage door alarm go off, but not hear gunshots down the hall from him. Also, the alarm panel Darren stated he heard was in the garage itself on the opposite side of the residence. Investigators could not hear the alarm the same way Darren described. Also, Darren's parents' room was even further away from the garage door, and the only access was walking past his own room. So for Darren to have heard the garage door alarm, he would have to have been awake when the shooting occurred.

The affidavit also notes a lack of evidence for a burglary. There were no signs of forced entry to any other door, window, or entry point. There were no items missing from the hospital. home either, which would indicate a burglary happened. The break in the case, according to police, came when friends started talking. One friend who was interviewed alleged there was a long-standing plot. She told Sergeant Orozco there had been a plan in place for several weeks or months between Darren and two of his friends, one who is not a suspect in this case, and Julio, who is a suspect in this case to kill Darren's parents. Darren wanted to take over the parents' belongings slash

finances and this was how they would do it. The alleged motive, according to witness statements in the document, was money. Darren's girlfriend allegedly told police, Darren had wanted his father's money and Julio had agreed to kill Darren's parents in exchange for the money when Darren got some. The affidavit details the alleged planning, including a weapons trade and an ammunition purchase witnessed by the girlfriend. Julio had gone inside to purchase nine-millimeter. meter ammunition specifically to commit the homicide. Perhaps the most damning evidence, according to the document, came from Darren's phone. Messages allegedly showed him updating Julio on his parents' movements. Darren advised Julio his parents were not home yet, but they were on the way

that night. Darren also told Julio his parents would let him know when they were on their way that night and he would relay this info to Julio. The affidavit lays out the alleged timeline of the crime itself, with police saying they think Darren was waiting for the shooter to arrive at his home, waiting with the garage door open, and then the shooter entered through the garage. Police say Julio Zamora was arrested with what they describe as the murder weapon, a 9-millimeter polymer 80-style Glock, also known as a ghost gun. And according to the affidavit, Julio made significant admissions. Julio also admitted in his interview.

After waving his Miranda warning, Darren had asked and solicited him to kill Darren's parents. Julio also admitted the weapon found in his possession was in fact the same weapon he had used to kill Oscar and Dina. In the end, the affidavit presents the prosecution's case that this was not a burglary, but a premeditated murder plot allegedly orchestrated by a son for financial gain. So to discuss these disturbing allegations, I want to bring in John Day. criminal defense attorney who practices in Santa Fe. That's where he's based, but obviously travels all around for different cases. John, your first thoughts on this case. I mean, these are some really disturbing allegations. We have a teenager here accused of orchestrating a plot to kill his dad and his stepmom for an inheritance. I mean, that's, that's chilling. Yeah, thanks for having me.

chilling, disturbing, those words really don't even cover it, do they? I mean, this is just an incredibly horrific story with these teenagers coming up with this plan that obviously wasn't going to go anywhere, but the idea that somehow, according to police, they could murder the parents of one of the teenagers, and he would suddenly inherit all this. I mean, it's almost Shakespearean and how ridiculous and tragic it is, But at the end of the day, you've got this horrific murder and you've got this, you know, teen who's facing prison for the rest of his life. It's just an awful, awful story. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like they're both facing major, major prison time.

You know, we're talking conspiracy, solicitation, murder. I mean, it doesn't get any more serious than this. You know, and they have a witness, you know, they have other witnesses who told the, cops they were aware of this you know this plan yeah i mean it's it's what's what's so cold-blooded about it is that it was somehow it seemed okay uh in the in the minds of these you know they're not kids they're they're grown adults essentially at that at that point but the concept that um we can get away with this that somehow if we just get rid of the parents that everything will fall into place and all this money will fall into our laps and we'll inherit.

I mean, it's just ridiculous. And you kind of have to wonder, the backstory's got to be just a horrific family situation. We don't know a lot of details about that, but just the idea that somehow this came into somebody's head and that they acted on it. I mean, it's horrifying. Yeah, and it's horrifying that according to the allegations, of course, you know, they're both innocent until proven guilty. they get into the house and they think Dan you know the dad they think the dad can be saved obviously dad could not be saved the stepmother had already what's really chilling about this too is that this wasn't like an impulsive thing you know there it wouldn't matter if it was impulsive or not but apparently according to the affidavit this had been in the works according to what the police uncovered for months I mean this

plot had been laid out for months, if not weeks. So this was something that this young man had been trying to get together for a while, and he thinks I'll get somebody to help me take my parents out and I'll just get their money and I guess go live high on the hog. What do you do with this case? This is a defense attorney if you get this. I don't know what you do with this. I mean, it has shades of Menendez brothers. to me. That's what I think when I look at this. Yeah, I think that's a really good point. Right. The defending this, I mean, you've got to start with, I mean, you know, again, these are allegations and they're innocent until they're proven guilty.

But if you are a defense lawyer, whether you're a private lawyer or public defender, if this lands in your lap, you know, you have to do the best you can under your professional obligations. And so your defense has to focus on what is the story here? What's the backstory? What's the history? What's the situation with any sort of, is there any mental illness here? Is there any psychiatric treatment? Is there something that's going on in this family that would lead to this point, even as horrific as it is? And bringing up the Menendez brothers is certainly, it's a relevant tangent on this because, you know, if you're defending it, you've got these horrific set of facts and you've got to try to find something to hang a defense on. And most likely it's going to go into family. dynamics and that's kind of what I'm wondering if you are the defense attorney are you going to go into family dynamics that that's like maybe your only shot is looking at what was going on with the family here yeah I mean you've got to understand that apparently according to the allegations again just allegations by law enforcement but that this man this young man

had been living with the idea for a long time that this was a plan that this was something that he had put together that there was some desire. It's like, you know, if you believe the law enforcement reports, the plan was, well, I'm going to come up with a way to kill my father and stepmother, and then I will automatically, apparently he believed that his father had a chain of convenience store, somehow that there was some money attached to it, which, you know, those are the most heinous type of killings when it's that cold-blooded. It's like, if I get rid of my parents or my father and stepmother, then I'll get all this money

and life will be good. And you have to wonder what kind of a diseased mind comes up with that. So, yeah, if you're defending it, the first place you're going is evaluations, psychological history, family history. But it's a tough one, no doubt about it. What's interesting to me is that how quickly this story apparently began to unravel. You know, Darren tells police he hears this garage kind of alarm or whatever. And they're like, what?

You heard that all the way across the house, yet you didn't hear gunshots. You know, there are little things like this that are, I guess, what defense attorneys would call really bad facts. And it sounds like, you know, obviously he had a story that he told police that the police just didn't buy from work go. Right. And again, you know, look at the way the police report this happened. And they show up and he's there and they contact him. And he says, wait, don't go in my parents' room because they sleep with no clothes on. And he goes in there and apparently he comes out and his hands are covered in blood.

I mean, you know, the facts of this are kind of mind-boggling when you think about how it went down. And apparently he was the one who made a 911 call to actually report it. Apparently part of this, allegedly part of this plan to cover up this as a, as a boss. watched burglary or something. So, um, but again, you got to get back to if you're, if you are his defense lawyer assigned or retained otherwise, you've got to start with what is going on in this person's mind because this is not obviously sane behavior. Um, you could certainly argue from the other side that it's evil behavior and there's no excuse for it. But if you're having to defend that, you've got to find what's the root of this, what's going on? What sort of family situation was it where

he came up with a plan and sat with it for a long time about killing dad and stepmom and taking the money and running no doubt and you know it seems very unlikely too that if it's a botched burglary that the parents would suffer such horrific injuries and be murdered in bed of all places and then the son would Darren is going to be unharmed and able to call 911 right well it's just this is a continuum of uh you know incredibly horrific uh planning and conduct i mean you know apparently according to the police and law enforcement this was this conspiracy bringing in his his other friend um but this plan uh somehow they thought that this would this would work right i mean if you are the prosecution you've got this thing it's it's a

much different job that you're defending it obviously because the prosecution has circumstantial and direct evidence that points to him and the conspiracy. And then, of course, statements by witnesses about the conspiracy that we're finding out about. So the idea that somehow this sat in his head for a long time and he was planning out the steps, things he was going to do. And at the end, it was just, it was this incredibly ridiculous plan. And no one was going to buy it. But you have to think that's the product of some kind of.

a diseased, troubled, or evil, if you want to put it that way, mind, that would come up with something like this. So, I mean, just a tragic case, and a Clovis, New Mexico is really a small, a small town where people would tend to know each other. And you'd have to think that would, had somebody observed something in the family that led up to this? I mean, was anybody aware of any kind of trouble? We don't know that. But you think in a small place with, where people tend to look out for each other or be aware of everybody's activities, that there might have been some warning signs

and did somebody see those and just ignore them or maybe there weren't? Yeah, maybe they weren't. We really don't know at this point in time. But it'll be interesting to watch this case unfold and there has to be body-worn camera footage of the police responding to this, of them interacting with Darren and Julio for that matter.

and then possibly, you know, just walking through the scene and then the interview of these two people. I mean, New Mexico is pretty open with records. So we may see a lot of what happened as far as them coming to this scene and responding. Yeah, New Mexico has a pretty strong body-worn camera law for law enforcement and an open records law. So there should be information about it. But at the end of the day, it's, I mean, it's a horrific, you know, horrific situation with the father and stepmother basically dead in their beds and the son coming out of the bedroom with blood on his hands. I mean, it's just these images are pretty, pretty graphic and

pretty troubling. Yeah, it's, it is horrific, no doubt. It's just absolutely disturbing. We will keep an eye on it. John Day. Thank you so much. Thank you. This is just an incredibly sad and horrific case, and we'll keep an eye on it for you and keep you up to date on any developments. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Angelette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time. A teenager calls 911 to report a burglary at his family's home, but when police arrived, they say the story just doesn't add up. What investigators uncovered next? They claim wasn't a break-in at all. They say it was a murder plot orchestrated by the sun to collect. an inheritance. I lay out the theory from detectives. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and this is

Crime Fix. A teenage boy calls 911 reporting a horrific random burglary. His parents are found gunned down in their bed. When police arrive, they expect to find a break in, but allegedly they don't. What they say they find instead will turn. this case inside out because investigators alleged this was never random and it was never about fear it was all about money it's december 22nd in clovis new mexico and according to police a 19-year-old named darren munoz called 911 early that morning reporting a possible burglary at his family's home but when officers arrived they say the scene just didn't match the story inside the home darren's stepmother Dina Munoz was found dead in bed, and his father, Oscar Munoz, had been shot in the head and was

rushed to the hospital. There was actually hope that he could be saved, but Oscar would later die from his injuries. And according to investigators, nothing about the house looked like a burglary, no forced entry, nothing stolen, and then police say Darren started saying things that didn't add up. And they say he didn't act alone either. They said, say he recruited an 18-year-old friend, Julio Zamora, to kill his parents using a ghost gun. That's a gun with no serial number that can't be traced, and the motive they determined was to collect his parents' inheritance. Now, both teens are in custody. Darren Munoz was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and criminal solicitation. Julio Zamora

was also charged with two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy, but to understand how police say this case unraveled, you actually have to go back to the very first moments inside that house because according to the arrest affidavit, when officers arrived at the York Street home after the burglary report, they found the garage door wide open and Darren is either in the garage or at the front of the residence, despite having just called 911 to report a burglary in progress. Investigators say Darren told officers everything was fine. But when the officer told Darren, he needed to check on his parents inside the house, the affidavit says Darren hesitated, not because of safety, not because he thought a burglar was still inside, but because according to police,

Darren offered a very specific explanation. He didn't really want Officer Smith to go inside because his parents slept naked. And then investigators note a critical detail. They say Darren walked into his parents' bedroom alone while they waited outside. And moments later, when Officer Smith saw Darren again emerge from the bedroom, Darren's hands were now covered in blood. At that point, officers rushed into the room and what they found immediately shifted this case. Smith and other responding officers went into the room and discovered a man and a woman shot in their room. The man was Darren's father, and the woman was Darren's stepmother. Oscar Munoz was still showing signs of life, although he had suffered a gunshot wound to the head.

Dina Munoz was deceased in her bed. Darren was detained and taken in for questioning, and that's where. According to police, his story starts to unravel. In his interview, Darren claimed he had been asleep and was awakened by the garage door alarm, not gunshots. Investigators say that doesn't make sense. They wrote, it made no sense that Darren would hear the grower. garage door alarm go off, but not hear gunshots down the hall from him. Also, the alarm panel Darren stated he heard was in the garage itself on the opposite side of the residence.

Investigators could not hear the alarm the same way Darren described. Also, Darren's parents' room was even further away from the garage door, and the only access was walking past his own room. So for Darren to have heard the garage door alarm, he would have to have been awake when the shooting occurred. The affidavit also notes a lack of evidence for a burglary. There were no signs of forced entry to any other door, window, or entry point. There were no items missing from the home either, which would indicate a burglary happened. The break in the case, according to police, came when friends started talking. One friend who was interviewed alleged there was a long-standing plot. She told Sergeant Orozco there had been a plan in place for several weeks or

months between Darren and two of his friends, one who is not a suspect in this case, and Julio, who is a suspect in this case, to kill Darren's parents. Darren wanted to take over the parents' belongings slash finances, and this was how they would do it. The alleged motive, according to witness statements in the document, was money. Darren's girlfriend allegedly told police, Darren had wanted his father's money, and Julio had agreed to kill Darren's parents in exchange for the money when Darren got some. The affidavit details the alleged planning, including a weapons trade and an ammunition purchase

witnessed by the girlfriend. Julio had gone inside to purchase 9mm ammunition specifically to commit the homicide. Perhaps the most damning evidence, according to the document, came from Darren's phone. Messages allegedly showed him updating Julio on his parents' movements. Darren advised Julio, his parents,

were not home yet, but they were on the way that night. Darren also told Julio his parents would let him know when they were on their way that night, and he would relay this info to Julio. The affidavit lays out the alleged timeline of the crime itself, with police saying they think Darren was waiting for the shooter to arrive at his home, waiting with the garage door open, and then the shooter entered through the garage. Police say Julio Zamora was arrested with what they describe as the murder weapon, a 9-millimeter polymer 80-style Glock, also known as a ghost gun. And according to the affidavit, Julio made significant admissions. Julio also admitted in his interview. After waving his Miranda warning, Darren had asked and solicited him to kill Darren's

parents. Julio also admitted the weapon found in his possession was in fact the same weapon he had used to kill Oscar and Dina. In the end, the affidavit presents the prosecution's case, that this was not a burglary, but a premeditated murder plot allegedly orchestrated by a son for financial gain. So to discuss these disturbing allegations, I want to bring in John Day. He is a criminal defense attorney who practices in Santa Fe. That's where he's based, but obviously travels all around for different cases.

John, your first thoughts on this case. I mean, these are some really disturbing allegations. We have a teenager here accused of orchestrating a plot to kill his dad and his stepmom for an inheritance. I mean, that's, that's chilling. Yeah, thanks for having me. Chilling, disturbing. Those words really don't even cover it, do they? I mean, this is just an incredibly horrific story with these teenagers coming up with this plan that obviously, you know, wasn't going to go anywhere.

But the idea that somehow, according to police, they could murder the parents of one of the teenagers and he would suddenly inherit all this. I mean, it's almost Shakespearean and how ridiculous and tragic it is. But at the end of the day, you've got this horrific murder and you've got this, you know, teen who's facing prison for the rest of his life. It's just an awful, awful story. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like they're both facing major, major prison time. you know we're talking conspiracy solicitation murder i mean it doesn't get any more serious than this you know it and they have a witness you know they have other witnesses who who told the cops they were aware of this you know this plan yeah i mean it's it's what's what's so cold-blooded

about it is that it was somehow it seemed okay uh in the in the minds of these you know they're not kids they're they're grown adults essentially at that at that point but the concept that um we can get away with this that somehow if we just get rid of the parents that everything will fall into place and all this money will fall into our laps and we'll inherit i mean it's just ridiculous and you kind of have to wonder the backstory's got to be just a horrific family situation um we don't know a lot of details about that but just the idea that somehow this came into somebody's head and that they acted on I mean, it's horrifying. Yeah, and it's horrifying that according to the allegations, of course,

you know, they're both innocent until proven guilty. They get into the house and they think, you know, the dad, they think the dad can be saved. Obviously, dad could not be saved. The stepmother had already, what's really chilling about this too is that this wasn't like an impulsive thing, you know, it wouldn't. matter if it was impulsive or not but apparently according to the affidavit this had been in the works according to what the police uncovered for months i mean this plot had been laid out for months

if not weeks so this was something that this young man had been trying to get together for a while and he thinks i'll get somebody to help me take my parents out and i'll just get their money and I guess go live high on the hog. What do you do at this case? This is a defense attorney if you get this. I don't know what you do at this. I mean, it has shades of Menendez brothers to me. That's what I think when I look at this.

Yeah, I think that's a really good point. Right. Defending this, I mean, you've got to start with, I mean, again, these are allegations and they're innocent until they're proven guilty. But if you are a defense lawyer, whether you're privately, lawyer or public defender, if this lands in your lap, you know, you have to do the best you can under your professional obligations. And so your defense has to focus on what is the story here? What's the backstory? What's the history? What's the situation with any sort of, is there any

mental illness here? Is there any psychiatric treatment? Is there something that's going on in this family that would lead to this point, even as horrific as it is? And bringing up the Menendez Brothers is certainly, it's a relevant tangent on this because, you know, if you're defending it, you've got these horrific set of facts and you've got to try to find something to hang a defense on. And most likely it's going to go into family dynamics. And that's kind of what I'm wondering. If you are the defense attorney, are you going to go into family dynamics? That's like maybe your only shot is looking at what was going on with the family here. Yeah. I mean, you've got to understand that apparently, according to the allegations, again,

just allegations by law enforcement, but that this young man had been living with the idea for a long time, that this was a plan, that this was something that he had put together that there was some desire. You know, if you believe the law enforcement reports, the plan was, well, I'm going to come up with a way to kill my father and stepmother, and then I will automatically, apparently, He believed that his father had a chain a convenience store, somehow that there was some money attached to it, which, you know, those are the most heinous type of killings when it's that cold-blooded. It's like, if I get rid of my parents or my father and stepmother, then I'll get all this money and life will be good. And you have to wonder what kind of a diseased mind comes up with that.

So, yeah, if you're defending it, the first place you're going is evaluations, psychological history, family history. But it's a tough one, no doubt about it. What's interesting to me is that how quickly this story apparently began to unravel. You know, Darren tells police he hears this garage kind of alarm or whatever. And they're like, what? You heard that all the way across the house, yet you didn't hear gunshots. You know, there are little things like this that are, I guess, what defense attorneys would call really bad facts. And it sounds like, you know, obviously he had a story that he told police that the police just didn't buy from work go.

Right. And again, you know, look at the way the police report this happened. They show up and he's there and they contact him. And he says, wait, don't go in my parents' room because they sleep with no clothes on. And he goes in there and apparently he comes out and his hands are covered in blood. I mean, you know, the facts of this are kind of mind-boggling when you think about how it went down and who, apparently he was the one who made a 911 call to actually report it. Apparently part of this, allegedly part of this plan to cover up this as a botched burglary or something. So, but again, you got to get back to if you're, if you are his defense lawyer assigned or retained otherwise, you've got to start with what is going on in this. person's mind because this is not obviously sane behavior you could certainly argue from the other side that it's evil behavior and there's no excuse for it but if you're having to defend that you've got to find what's the root of this what's going on what sort of family situation was it

where he came up with a plan and sat with it for a long time about killing dad and stepmom and taking the money and running no doubt and you know it seems very unlikely too that if it's a botched burglary that the parents would suffer such horrific injuries and be murdered in bed of all places and then the son would Darren is going to be unharmed and able to call 911 right well it's just this is a continuum of uh you know incredibly horrific uh planning and conduct i mean you know Apparently, according to the police and law enforcement, this was this conspiracy bringing in his other friend. But this plan, somehow they thought that this would work, right? I mean, if you are the prosecution, you've got this thing.

It's a much different job that you're defending it, obviously, because the prosecution has circumstantial and direct evidence that points to him and the conspiracy. And then, of course, statements by witnesses about the conspiracy that we're finding out about. the idea that somehow this sat in his head for a long time and he was planning out the steps things he was going to do and at the end it was just it was this incredibly ridiculous plan and no one was going to buy it but you have to think that's the product of some kind of a disease troubled or evil if you want to put it that way mind that would come up with something like this so I mean just a tragic case, and Clovis, New Mexico is really a small town where people would tend to know each other, and you'd have to think that had somebody observed something in the family

that led up to this? I mean, was anybody aware of any kind of trouble? We don't know that, but you think in a small place where people tend to look out for each other or be aware of everybody's activities, that there might have been some warning signs, and did somebody see those and just ignore them, or maybe there weren't? Yeah, maybe they weren't. We really don't know at this point in time. But it'll be interesting to watch this case unfold. And there has to be body-worn camera footage of the police responding to this, of them interacting with Darren and Julio, for that matter.

And then possibly, you know, just walking through the scene and then the interview of these two people. I mean, New Mexico is pretty open with records. So we may see a lot of what happened as far as them. coming to this scene and responding. Yeah, New Mexico has a pretty strong body-worn camera law for law enforcement and an open records law. So there should be information about it. But at the end of the day, it's, I mean, it's a horrific, you know, horrific situation with

the father and stepmother basically dead in their beds and the son coming out of the bedroom with blood on his hands. I mean, it's just these images are pretty, pretty graphic and pretty troubling. Yeah, it's, it is horrific, no doubt. just absolutely disturbing. We will keep an eye on it. John Day, thank you so much. Thank you. This is just an incredibly sad and horrific case, and we'll keep an eye on it for you and keep you up to date on any developments. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.