In the predawn hours of a Monday in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a quiet residential street was shattered by violence that would leave a young man dead and a community searching for answers. The life of 27-year-old Hispanic male Raul Rene Montejano Jr. was cut short on June 19, 2023, inside a home on Camino Alhambra. The tragic events began to unfold just before 4 a.m. when a neighbor placed a frantic 911 call.
The caller reported that a woman had come to them for help, saying her mother had been shot and another person was dead inside their residence.
Santa Fe police officers rushed to the 4300 block of Camino Alhambra, where they discovered a grim scene. Inside the home, they located a 56-year-old woman suffering from gunshot wounds. Officers immediately began rendering aid until paramedics arrived and transported her to a local hospital for treatment. Elsewhere in the residence, they found Raul Rene Montejano Jr. He was unconscious with an apparent injury. Despite the efforts of the officers and paramedics to save him, Montejano Jr. was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Office of the Medical Investigator.
As detectives and the crime scene unit began their investigation into the homicide, a suspect was quickly identified. An arrest warrant was issued for 29-year-old Francisco Javier Grado-Flores of Santa Fe, charging him with murder and tampering with evidence. The search for Grado-Flores extended beyond New Mexico, and two days later, he was apprehended by police in Wichita, Kansas. When he was located, Grado-Flores had apparent injuries that he claimed were sustained in a fight. He was booked into the Sedgwick County Detention Center as a fugitive from justice, awaiting extradition to face the charges related to the death of Raul Rene Montejano Jr.
