On the last day of 2021, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, friends of 31-year-old Nicholas Ray Turrietta, a White/Caucasian male, grew concerned when they could not reach him. Peering through a window of his home on Maggies Ave NE, they saw him unconscious and immediately called for help, fearing a possible overdose. When officers from the Albuquerque Police Department arrived and gained entry to the residence, they found Nicholas deceased.
Initially, the scene did not suggest a violent crime,
and the initial thought was that it was a possible overdose. However, the following day, on January 1, 2022, the Office of the Medical Investigator discovered a gunshot wound to his head, concealed by his hair. This discovery immediately shifted the focus of the investigation, and the case was reclassified as a homicide.
Detectives began to piece together the events leading up to Nicholas's death. They discovered his phone was missing and traced its location to Socorro, New Mexico, and then to a rural area near Los Lunas. By examining phone records and social media communications, investigators identified 39-year-old Saou Maiga as a person of interest. Maiga, an employee at White Sands Missile Range, was believed to be the last person to have seen Nicholas alive.
The investigation continued, and on April 12, 2023, an arrest warrant was issued for Maiga. On April 27, 2023, he turned himself in to U.S. Marshals. Saou Maiga was subsequently charged with murder and tampering with evidence in connection with the death of Nicholas Turrietta. It was also reported that Nicholas, who was described by his family as a "free spirit" and a "loving soul," went by the name Nikki and identified as a woman.
