On the evening of May 10, 2024, at approximately 9:45 p.m., El Paso police responded to a domestic dispute at an apartment in the 6800 block of Bellrose Drive. Upon arrival, officers discovered 49-year-old Todd Olivas with multiple gunshot wounds; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The initial 911 call was placed by 41-year-old Valerie Navejas, who reported being assaulted by Olivas and admitted to shooting him.
Navejas, a Level 3 security guard licensed to carry a firearm on duty, informed investigators that she had been in a relationship with Olivas for about six months. She recounted that after leaving work early due to illness, an argument ensued between them over the phone, which continued upon her arrival home. Navejas alleged that Olivas, who had been drinking, became physically aggressive, lightly slapping her face and pulling her hair. She claimed that Olivas retrieved her firearm from the bedroom closet, threatened to kill himself, and during a struggle for the weapon, she closed her eyes and heard multiple gunshots, ultimately finding the gun in her hands.
However, investigators identified inconsistencies between Navejas' account and the physical evidence at the scene. Confronted with these discrepancies, Navejas revised her statement, admitting that she had managed to take the gun from Olivas and shot him multiple times at close range. She confessed to delaying the 911 call by approximately 30 minutes and to tampering with the crime scene by collecting spent shell casings and placing them on a dresser before police arrived.
Based on the investigation, Navejas was arrested and charged with murder. She was booked into the El Paso County Jail on a $150,000 bond. This incident marked the seventh reported homicide in El Paso for the year 2024, matching the number of homicides at the same time in 2023.
