Two women and 13-year-old were killed decades ago, cops say. Now man going to prison

A 56-year-old man was sentenced to prison time after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the killings of two women and a teen girl in the late 1980s, New Mexico officials said.

The cases initially went cold until Paul Apodaca walked into a University of New Mexico police station in 2021, according to a Jan. 26 news release by the Albuquerque Police Department.

At first, Apodaca said he only killed 21-year-old Althea Oakeley, but after being interrogated by officers, he confessed to killing Stella Gonzales, 13, and Kaitlyn Arquette, 18, police said.

“These heinous crimes haunted three families for more than 30 years, leaving behind a wake of pain and suffering,” Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said in the release. “Growing up knowing Althea Oakeley’s family, I was able to share the news an arrest had been made, and it was evident there was still so much pain they were going through. I hope all the families can now move forward and find closure in a long awaited resolution to their nightmare.”

In 1988, Gonzales was walking home when Apodaca drove up and fatally shot her, officers said.

The same year, Oakeley, a University of New Mexico student, was walking home from a party and was fatally stabbed by Apodaca, police said.

In 1989, Apodaca drove up to Arquette’s car and fatally shot her, police said.

On Jan. 25, Apodaca was sentenced to 45 years in prison and must register on the Sex Offender Registry, the release said.

This story was originally published January 29, 2024 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Two women and 13-year-old were killed decades ago, cops say. Now man going to prison."