A man already serving a 20-year prison sentence for murder in El Paso was found guilty by a New Mexico jury of tampering with evidence after hiding the body in a vehicle.
An Otero County jury convicted Jevare Stephawn Freeman-Handy on March 16 on one count of tampering with evidence in connection with the death of 37-year-old Rodolfo Fuentes on Nov. 17, 2021, New Mexico’s 12th Judicial District Attorney Ryan Suggs announced in a news release.
Judge Angie Schneider presided over the trial, which was held in Alamogordo, New Mexico. A sentencing date has not been set. He is facing up to three years in prison, plus an additional four years as a “habitual offender based on prior felony convictions,” the news release states.
The previous convictions include attempted murder of a Fort Bliss soldier in 2010, harassment of a public servant in 2020 and the most recent conviction on a murder charge in El Paso.
He also has a pending charge of battering a police officer while in custody at the Otero County Detention Center. This case is awaiting trial, New Mexico court records show.
Fuentes beaten to death at El Paso apartment
Freeman-Handy brutally beat Fuentes on Nov. 17, 2021, at the San Marcos Apartments located at 921 N. Zaragoza Road in El Paso’s Lower Valley.
Fuentes’ girlfriend, who lived at the apartments, told investigators she last heard from Fuentes on Nov. 12. She added Freeman-Handy appeared very upset, believing that Fuentes had left with Freeman-Handy’s girlfriend, a complaint affidavit states.
Freeman-Handy assaulted his own girlfriend at their apartment and then left and attacked Fuentes, who was in his Chevrolet Trailblazer in the parking lot, Freeman-Handy’s girlfriend told detectives. Freeman-Handy then drove the SUV closer to his apartment and honked the horn several times until his girlfriend came down to the parking lot.
Freeman-Handy told his girlfriend to drive while he got in the rear seat with Fuentes, the affidavit states.
Freeman-Handy’s girlfriend told detectives that she believed Fuentes was still alive as she heard Fuentes moaning and possibly say “homie.”
Freeman-Handy told his girlfriend to drive to a more secluded spot in the parking lot near the apartment complex’s trash bins. He pulled Fuentes’ pants down and beat him with an object before apparently wrapping a white item around his face and neck in a strangling motion, the girlfriend told police, the affidavit states.
Freeman-Handy allegedly told his girlfriend that he “broke every bone in his (Fuentes’) body.” She told police she didn’t hear or see Fuentes move, talk or breathe anymore, the complaint states.
The girlfriend claimed Freeman-Handy ordered her to drive away from the scene. The girlfriend drove around El Paso for one to two days with the body in the vehicle, the affidavit states.
Body found hidden in vehicle in Chaparral
Otero County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call on Nov. 20, 2021, about a body believed to be hidden in an SUV at a mobile home property in the 800 block of Amador Drive in Chaparral, New Mexico.
Residents told deputies that Freeman-Handy and his girlfriend claimed they had killed someone and the body was in the Chevrolet Trailblazer, the complaint states. Freeman-Handy and his girlfriend then borrowed a pickup truck to go to the store to buy beer.
Deputies conducted a traffic stop on the pickup truck and detained Freeman-Handy and his girlfriend. However, the deputies determined there was not enough evidence to search the Trailblazer.
The borrowed pickup was returned to its owner. Freeman-Handy and his girlfriend were released and left on foot. The Trailblazer was left parked at the mobile home site.
The next day, a resident called the New Mexico State Police to report a possible dead body in the SUV.
State police and deputies responded to the scene. The doors of the Trailblazer were closed. Deputies blamed a foul odor near the SUV on a sewage line. Deputies told state police that they had been to the property the previous day and found no body, the affidavit states.
The Trailblazer was not searched. The next day, it was towed to an impound yard in Chaparral.
Impound yard employees reported a foul odor coming from the Trailblazer on Dec. 7, 2021. The workers opened the vehicle and found a decomposing body inside, the complaint states. It had been 18 days since the first call regarding a body in the SUV.
The body was partially inside a black duffel bag and wrapped in a plastic bag with clothing on top. Fuentes’ legs were tied with a black extension cord, with his pants down, in a fetal position, the affidavit states.
Freeman-Handy was booked into the El Paso County jail on Dec. 11, 2021, on charges of family violence, failure to identify and evading and resisting arrest, as well as a parole violation. These charges were later dismissed, El Paso court records show.
He was questioned by El Paso Police Department detectives. Freeman-Handy provided a statement to officers admitting that he drove Fuentes’ vehicle to Chaparral but denied knowledge that Fuentes’ body was inside the vehicle, concealed under a pile of clothing in the back seat, the news release states.
Freeman-Handy was re-booked into the El Paso County jail on Jan. 4, 2022, on a murder charge in connection with Fuentes’ death. His bond was set at $2 million.
Freeman-Handy pleads guilty to murder in El Paso
Freeman-Handy pleaded guilty to one count of murder on Jan. 25, 2023, in the 243rd District Court at the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse in Downtown El Paso. Judge Selena Solis presided over the case.
As part of a plea agreement, Freeman-Handy was sentenced on Feb. 10, 2023, to 20 years in prison, court records show.
Freeman-Handy previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2011 on an attempt to commit murder charge. The charge stemmed from an incident where Freeman-Handy shot a Fort Bliss soldier in the back during a parking lot fight in 2010.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso murderer found guilty of hiding victim’s body in New Mexico
Reporting by Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
