On the morning of July 9, 2025, Jasmine Christanelli, 29, a White/Caucasian female from Los Lunas, was found gravely wounded outside the Adelino Head Start preschool on Highway 47. Deputies responding around 7:33 a.m. discovered she had a gunshot wound to the abdomen and attempted lifesaving measures, but she died at the scene. Authorities soon identified her and began piecing together how she came to the preschool in desperate search of help.
Investigators learned that a man who arrived with Christanelli, identified as 37-year-old Pete Romero of Los Lunas, initially told deputies the shooting had happened elsewhere and that they had driven to the preschool for assistance. As detectives followed up, they found inconsistencies in Romero's account and traced a 911 hang-up to the area of Ciriaco Lane, an address linked to both Romero and Christanelli, suggesting the violence began closer to home than first claimed.
During questioning, Romero admitted to handling a revolver, according to the sheriff's office. He was arrested and booked on an open count of first-degree murder as the homicide investigation continued, a charge that allows prosecutors to pursue the highest degree supported by the evidence once the case is presented. News reports and incident records publicly tied the case to Christanelli by name, age, and date, confirming the location, timeline, and the arrest in the hours that followed.
In the days after her death, funeral home notices and memorial pages reflected the community's grief, listing services in late July and emphasizing how suddenly her life was cut short. Those notices, together with local news coverage and violence-tracking databases, fix the date and place of her killing as July 9, 2025, in Los Lunas, and identify Romero as the suspect now facing the murder charge.
