Man helps kill woman over $400, tries to dismember her, feds say. He’s prison-bound

A man is going to prison for the role he played in the 2018 kidnapping and murder of a woman in New Mexico, federal officials said.

Luis Mariscal-Lopez, 26, of Espanola, helped Jorge Dominguez, Johnny Black and Crystal Ramos kill the woman after she used Ramos’ debit card to withdraw $400, according to a June 24 news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of New Mexico.

The group lured the woman to Ramos’ house and “brutally assaulted her over an extended period of time,” prosecutors said.

They tied her to a chair and dragged her to a bedroom that was lined with plastic “to prevent blood stains on the wall and floor,” according to court documents.

Ramos used a drill to torture the woman and the group struck her with the end of a shotgun, documents said.

The woman died as a result, prosecutors said.

Later, the group wrapped the woman’s body in plastic and brought her to a “remote area” in Velarde, officials said. Velarde is about a 20-mile drive northeast from Espanola.

They tried dismembering her body there “before digging shallow pits to burn the body,” officials said.

After seeing a helicopter, the group put out the fire and gathered the woman’s remains, returned to Ramos’ home and put them in a toolbox, officials said.

Black took the toolbox to Ojo Caliente, which is about a 25-mile drive northeast from Espanola, and buried it in a “shallow grave near the river,” prosecutors said.

Mariscal-Lopez pleaded guilty, according to documents, and was sentenced to 17 years in prison, officials said.

After his release, he will be subject to five years of supervised release, officials said.

Black pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years in prison, officials said.

Dominguez pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in August, officials said.

Ramos died in a police shootout in 2018 in Denver, Colorado, officials said.

Espanola is a 90-mile drive northeast from Albuquerque.

This story was originally published June 26, 2024 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Man helps kill woman over $400, tries to dismember her, feds say. He’s prison-bound."