On the evening of March 4, 2024, Jacob Rivera, a 24-year-old Caucasian man, was in an alleyway in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he was shot and killed. The attack happened near 112 Indiana St. S.E., close to the intersection of Central Avenue and Louisiana Boulevard. Rivera was with a woman at the time, and she later told detectives they were smoking Fentanyl when the gunfire began.
A ShotSpotter activation detected approximately 10 gunshots in the area.
Albuquerque Police Department officers arrived to find two victims. Rivera had been shot nine times and was rushed to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries. The woman with him had been shot in the leg; she was also transported for medical treatment and survived. The investigation that followed pointed to a complex motive, combining a drug dispute with an act of revenge. A witness told police there had been a disagreement over the price of Fentanyl just before the shooting.
The same witness told detectives that one of the men present, Isaiah Siddell, recognized Rivera as the person who had shot him in the leg during a prior altercation on January 31, 2024, at a Pizza Hut. According to the witness, Siddell’s companion, a man known as “Memphis,” then took out a .380 caliber handgun and shot Rivera multiple times. “Memphis” was later identified by police as 25-year-old Gabriel Valenzuela-Greene Jr. The witness also stated that after the shooting, Valenzuela-Greene boasted, “I am a real shooter. To be an example, you gotta lead by example.”
Investigators used surveillance video, phone evidence, and ballistics to connect the suspects to the crime. The firearm used to kill Rivera was also linked to the January shooting of Siddell and to another incident where Siddell allegedly shot a dog in the face. On March 15, 2024, SWAT officers arrested Valenzuela-Greene. Five days later, the second suspect, 30-year-old Isaiah Siddell, turned himself in to police. Both men were charged with murder.
Subsequently, Isaiah Siddell pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder for his role in Jacob Rivera's death. The case is considered solved. The latest development was Siddell’s plea, following the arrests in March 2024.
