Do you know who murdered Eddie Verdugo and Joyleen Chavez in 2004? Eddie Verdugo was 48 years old, male, and Hispanic when he became the victim of a still-unsolved double homicide in Los Lunas, New Mexico, in April 2004. On April 16, the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office was sent to 27 Dean Lane after authorities received information that two people at the residence had been badly injured. When deputies arrived, they discovered Verdugo and Joyleen Chavez inside the home suffering from gunshot wounds.
Verdugo was found near the front entryway, while Chavez was located in an adjoining area of the residence. Both were still alive when law enforcement reached them, and emergency personnel transported them to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.
Investigators determined that both victims had been shot and that their injuries were fatal. Available accounts differ on the precise timing of the deaths: one secondary account reports that Verdugo died within hours of being taken to the hospital and that Chavez died approximately two days later, while official New Mexico Department of Public Safety information states more generally that both were transported to the hospital and subsequently succumbed to their gunshot wounds. Because the available official material does not provide a more precise time of death for Verdugo, the shooting on April 16, 2004, remains the central date associated with his homicide.
The relationship between Verdugo and Chavez is also described inconsistently in surviving online accounts. One source describes Chavez as Verdugo’s girlfriend, while later reporting about the New Mexico State Police cold-case program refers to Verdugo and Chavez as brother and sister. What is consistent is that both were found critically wounded in the same Los Lunas residence and that investigators treated their deaths as a connected double homicide. Neighbors reportedly told investigators that they had not heard or seen anything unusual around the time of the shootings, leaving detectives with little immediately available eyewitness information. Investigators believed the attack had occurred at least some time before deputies entered the residence.
The case eventually became one of the homicides selected for renewed attention by the New Mexico State Police Cold Case Unit. When the unit was reestablished and began reviewing dozens of unsolved killings, investigators identified the Verdugo-Chavez case as one of a small number they believed warranted focused work. Detectives revisited old reports, reviewed available evidence, conducted additional interviews, and considered whether advances in forensic testing could produce information that had not been obtainable when the original investigation was conducted. The Los Lunas cases were of particular interest to investigators who had previous law-enforcement experience and contacts in the area.
Despite that renewed investigation, publicly available law-enforcement information continues to list the deaths of Eddie Verdugo and Joyleen Chavez as cold-case homicides. No publicly identified suspect has been named in connection with Verdugo’s killing, and the available reliable online sources do not document an arrest, criminal charge, indictment, trial, or conviction for either homicide. Authorities have continued to seek information from anyone who might know what happened inside the Dean Lane residence or who may have knowledge about the person or people responsible for the shootings. The absence of a publicly identified offender has left the case unresolved more than two decades after Verdugo and Chavez were attacked.
