Newsletter Signup
Stay up to date on all the latest news from Boston.com
New Mexico
Mom once under investigation in Mass. now charged in her toddler's death in New Mexico
Crime
Kerri Anne Santos, a former Gardner resident, is facing child abuse charges in the death of her 3-year-old daughter.
A former Massachusetts woman is facing child abuse charges in New Mexico following the death of her 3-year-old toddler on Saturday.
Kerri Anne Santos, 31, previously lived with relatives in Gardner and was once the subject of a child welfare investigation in Massachusetts, the Albuquerque Police Department said.
She arrived at the University of New Mexico Hospital shortly before 4 a.m. Saturday with her daughter’s body wrapped in a blanket and two other children in tow, according to police. Medical personnel determined the toddler was dead upon arrival.
Santos allegedly told officials she left Massachusetts to get away from a “bad situation” and that her daughter fell from a toilet and injured herself. However, investigators noted the girl had ligature marks on both ankles and bruises behind her ears, around her right wrist, and along her underwear line.
Authorities in Albuquerque said an autopsy showed an injury to the girl’s head, but the medical investigator will wait for the results of a toxicology report before determining her cause of death.
New Mexico officials reached out to police in Gardner for more insight on the family and reportedly learned that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families had investigated Santos regarding allegations that she used drugs around her children. DCF was unable to confirm or deny an investigation, citing state and federal privacy requirements.
While looking into Santos’s background in Massachusetts, Albuquerque investigators also uncovered multiple domestic violence reports involving another adult, 28-year-old Austin Bing. They later learned that Santos had driven from Massachusetts to New Mexico with Bing and his mother, 46-year-old Christina Hopkins Pena-Cantor.
According to police, Santos and her children had been staying in an Albuquerque apartment with Bing, Hopkins Pena-Cantor, and 48-year-old James Welch — the apartment owner and Hopkins Pena-Cantor’s boyfriend. All four adults have been charged in the 3-year-old girl’s death.
Police said one of the adults allegedly bound the child with shoelaces and tied her to a bed frame in the apartment on Jan. 12. Santos reportedly told investigators that her daughter had a pillow and blanket while she was tied up, “so she wouldn’t get too cold.” She also allegedly told police that after her daughter fell from the toilet, she waited about five to six hours before taking the girl to a hospital.
Santos’s other two children, a 6-year-old and an infant, were placed in the custody of the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department. Albuquerque police said all three children are believed to be victims of sexual abuse.
Santos is charged with child abuse resulting in death, child abuse resulting in great bodily harm, and aiding or abetting in the criminal sexual contact of a minor, according to a copy of her criminal complaint.
Hopkins Pena-Cantor and Bing are both charged with child abuse and child abuse resulting in death. Welch is charged with child abuse.
A man is facing murder charges after allegedly admitting to deputies that he fatally shot two people inside a New Mexico home after receiving “an encrypted message in a cockroach” that he “needed to kill,” authorities say.
Alexis Hernandez, 25, was arrested and charged with two open counts of murder in connection with a Friday incident inside a southwest Albuquerque home, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.
Hernandez was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Saturday morning, and it is not immediately clear if he has retained a lawyer.
Authorities have not identified the men killed in the incident or the two young children who were also found inside the house at the time.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit filed at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, deputies responded to reports of gunfire in southwest Albuquerque just before 10:30 p.m. When deputies arrived, they were met at the front door by Hernandez, who “had a firearm on his waistband and a Marine Corps Sabre on his hip,” the arrest warrant said.
Hernandez, who was immediately detained, told deputies he was in the Marines and “had to do what he had to do,” the warrant states. He then allegedly stated there were two dead bodies inside the residence.
Once inside the house, the warrant states, deputies found one dead man “with possible gunshot wounds” in the front of the house and a second man with apparent stab wounds in an attached apartment.
The two children who were found inside were safely removed from the residence, the arrest warrant states.
In an interview with deputies after he was taken into custody, Hernandez said that he knew the two slain men, one of whom was the owner of the property, according to the warrant. He then allegedly said he had believed the property owner was a friend who had been stalking him during the days leading up to the incident.
The warrant states Hernandez alleged the friend had placed cameras in the lights. Hernandez also told deputies that he was allegedly “hearing creepy voices coming from the vents” and “had been getting signs” that he had to end the property owner before he ended him.
Hernandez later allegedly told deputies that he also had received “an encrypted message in a cockroach” that he “needed to kill” the property owner, the warrant says. He added that the property owner allegedly did not like cockroaches.
The warrant states that Hernandez had previously purchased a Glock handgun, which he said he had for “protection.” Hernandez told deputies that on Friday the two men allegedly took him to the back room of the home and that he “was afraid for his life at this point.”
He said he shot the property owner in the head and the other in the kitchen, the warrant says. At one point, Hernandez allegedly told deputies, he had gone to his Honda Pilot to reload his gun before going back to each victim and shooting him again.
The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the details of the second man’s cause of death.
The warrant states Hernandez admitted that he did not know what to do after the attack, so he “stayed on scene and walked around.” He allegedly added that he knew about the two children at the house and that they saw him shoot the two men.
He added that “he was not going to take the kids or do anything to them,” the warrant says.
New Mexico
UNM med school aims to double. Does New Mexico have enough residency slots to keep docs in state?
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Here is a look at scores and highlights from week 12 of Friday Night Football.
6A
- #10 Cibola – 10
- #7 Volcano Vista – 14
- #9 Piedra Vista – 24
- #8 Los Lunas – 28
Game of the Week
- #12 Eldorado – 7
- #5 La Cueva – 41
Las Cruces Joins the Show
5A
- #9 Mayfield – 22
- #8 Highland – 36
- #10 Valley – 23
- #7 Belen – 50
- #11 Capital – 0
- #6 Gadsden – 50
4A
- #11 Portales – 13
- #6 Moriarty – 49
- #12 Valencia – 0
- #5 Albuquerque Academy – 42
- #9 Manzano – 28
- #8 Bernalillo – 31
Bloomfield Joins the Show
St. Michael’s Joins the Show
- #9 Jal – 13
- #8 Navajo Prep – 22
Tawney Acosta Chaparro Law Defender of the Week
Maine2 minutes ago
Maine’s King one of 3 moving Senate toward shutdown deal, but there’s no guarantee
Maryland12 minutes ago
102-year-old World War II veteran belts out national anthem at Maryland parade
Michigan22 minutes ago
Michigan residents wake up to first real snow of the season; more possible
Massachusetts27 minutes ago
3 WWII veterans from Boston, Massachusetts posthumously awarded Bronze Star Medal
Minnesota37 minutes ago
Ravens Defense Has Its Swagger Back After Minnesota Win
Florida1 year ago
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Oregon2 years ago
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
Connecticut2 years ago
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
Virginia1 year ago
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Education1 year ago
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
News6 hours ago
Small Earthquakes Strike San Francisco Bay Area
Politics8 hours ago
Final hurdles cleared to deport Abrego Garcia to Liberia, Trump admin says
World10 hours ago
US government shutdown enters 40th day: How is it affecting Americans?
News10 hours ago
Judge says Education Dept. partisan out-of-office emails violated First Amendment
Politics1 day ago
Newsom tells Texas crowd taking back House is ‘the whole thing’ for Democrats in 2026
-
Austin, TX4 days agoHalf-naked woman was allegedly tortured and chained in Texas backyard for months by five ‘friends’ who didn’t ‘like her anymore’
-
Seattle, WA1 week agoESPN scoop adds another intriguing name to Seahawks chatter before NFL trade deadline
-
Southwest2 days agoTexas launches effort to install TPUSA in every high school and college
-
Business1 week agoCommentary: Meme stocks are still with us, offering new temptations for novice and unwary investors
-
World4 days agoIsrael’s focus on political drama rather than Palestinian rape victim
-
Southwest5 days agoArmy veteran-turned-MAGA rising star jumps into fiery GOP Senate primary as polls tighten
-
Lifestyle1 week agoDuane Roberts, Inventor of the Frozen Burrito, Dead at 88
-
Louisiana2 days agoLouisiana high school football final scores, results — November 7, 2025