White/Caucasian male Hayden Alter, 29, left an Albuquerque rehabilitation program on May 16, 2025, to visit family in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Family members later said he was last seen that weekend around May 18 at a local church, and when his calls stopped coming, his mother reported him missing on May 21. On June 10, New Mexico State Police found his car in rural San Miguel County; inside and near the burned vehicle were human remains later identified as his.
Online death records mark his date of death as May 19, 2025, placing the killing in the narrow window between his last sighting and the discovery of the car.
Investigators traced Alter's final hours to a small gathering on the night of May 19. Witness accounts in arrest affidavits describe how an argument erupted after someone accused Alter of being “a cop” or a “snitch.” A gunshot followed. One witness told police they saw Jose Eversole with a gun and that Alter had been shot in the head. According to the same accounts, Eversole and Samantha Montoya moved Alter's body into his own vehicle, drove it away, and by the next day said they had “burned everything.” Another man, Luciano Meza, was accused of threatening witnesses not to talk. The burned car and remains found on June 10 matched those statements, aligning the scene with what witnesses said happened after the shooting.
Arrests followed in August 2025. New Mexico State Police and local prosecutors secured charges that reflected each person's alleged role that night and after: Eversole was charged with murder, arson, and tampering with evidence; Montoya with conspiracy and tampering; Meza with bribery of a witness and tampering. Court dates were set in late August and September, with Eversole and Meza held in jail while Montoya was released under conditions pending her hearing. Through the summer, Alter's family—who had first sounded the alarm with missing-person appeals—pivoted to seeking justice as the case moved into the courts.
What emerges is a stark timeline: a 29-year-old father returns home for a brief visit; by May 19 he is dead from gunfire; by June 10 his car and body are set ablaze off a rural road; and by August, three suspects are in custody facing charges that span murder, arson, conspiracy, and efforts to silence witnesses. The official classification of his death as gun violence underscores what witnesses described—a fatal shot at close quarters—followed by a hurried attempt to erase the traces of a life and a crime.
