Leonardo Zavala-Herrera, a 40-year-old Hispanic male from Santa Fe, was shot to death on September 6, 2025, inside a residence on the 1100 block of Lopez Street near Bicentennial Park.
Court records later identified him by name and age, tying the fatal shooting to a volatile conflict that spilled into the small home.
He was found dead the following day when officers arrived to follow up on an investigation and discovered a man with a gunshot wound to the head; the case was immediately reclassified as a homicide.
Within hours of the discovery, detectives located an SUV believed connected to the killing near Rufina Street and Siler Road.
When officers attempted a stop, the driver fled, triggering a chase through city streets before he was taken into custody.
Police publicly noted the pursuit and arrest while holding back many details as the investigation widened around the Lopez Street home and surrounding neighborhood.
Investigators ultimately focused on 37-year-old Abel Maez as the prime suspect.
He was identified by police following the pursuit and was initially booked into the Santa Fe County jail on charges related to aggravated fleeing and resisting, separate from the homicide itself.
As detectives continued interviewing witnesses and reviewing evidence, a fuller picture emerged: statements suggested the violence erupted from a turbulent love triangle involving a woman who had dated Maez, a thread that detectives believe led directly to the shooting of the 40-year-old male victim.
Days later, the investigative work culminated in a murder filing naming Maez in the Lopez Street killing of the 40-year-old male, Leonardo Zavala-Herrera of Santa Fe.
Court filings and subsequent reporting add a procedural twist: prosecutors soon dismissed those charges without prejudice, noting they could still take the case to a grand jury.
Even amid that step, police and local outlets continued to link the arrest, the chase, and the Lopez Street scene to the death of the 40-year-old male victim, while memorial pages recorded his name and the September 6 date of his killing.
