December 10 – Months after being accused of leading police on a chase that resulted in a fatal crash on Interstate 25, Jeannine Jaramillo sent a letter to the New Mexico State Police apologizing for “a host of bad decisions ‘.
But she denied she was responsible for the killing during the March 2022 incident. “I was scared, on drugs and never for a second thought running away would have led to this situation,” she wrote.
State Police Sgt. Wyatt Harwell, who investigated the case, read Jaramillo’s letter in state court in Santa Fe on Tuesday, the third day of her jury trial on two counts of first-degree murder and other charges.
Prosecutors allege Jaramillo faked her kidnapping, prompting an ill-fated chase in a stolen car, first into the city of Santa Fe and then onto the highway, where she and several officers drove north and then made a U-turn and drove south. the northbound lanes. Santa Fe Police Officer Robert Duran and retired firefighter Frank Lovato of Las Vegas, NM, died after a head-on collision near the Old Pecos Trail exit of I-25.
Jaramillo told officers after the crash that a man who had taken her hostage in the vehicle at knifepoint had fled the scene; However, police said she was the only person in the car.
Harwell said Jaramillo’s letter was sent to state police headquarters about six months after the incident. Although she apologizes in the letter, she also holds Duran and other officers responsible, writing, “I do not know why this high-speed pursuit was not called off, why Officer Duran chose to drive oncoming traffic the wrong way. retired firefighter Mr. Lovato.”
The letter begins: “I would like to apologize to Officer Duran and retired firefighter Mr. Lovato, family, friends and loved ones who have been deeply affected by this tragic accident,” Jaramillo’s letter reads. “My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to all of them at this difficult time, to those men who lost their lives on that fateful day as a result of a… multitude of bad decisions, actions and reactions on all our sides that are sad and unfortunately resulted in both of them losing their lives.
“I thank God every day that no one else, including myself, was killed or harmed as a result of the poor decisions that both myself and Officer Duran and the other men made on that terrible day,” Jaramillo wrote.
Santa Fe police officers said they continued the pursuit because they believed Jaramillo was being held hostage in the car and that her life was at risk.
Jaramillo’s letter continues: “I am being portrayed as a heartless, evil drug addicted criminal with very little regard for human life, and that is absolutely false. I am a kind, caring, loving, God-fearing widow and mother of five children and seven grandchildren, who are struggling to understand why God has chosen this trial and tribulation for us in this life. I have never knowingly or actively participated in hurting anyone, by doing things that would undoubtedly harm another person, an animal, or, God forbid, should I kill, or any living creature, all the days of my life.”
Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Padgett Macias noted that Jaramillo admitted in the letter that she was driving “recklessly” and indicated she was guilty of crimes.
Padgett Macias highlighted two sentences from the letter on a billboard she hung for the jurors:
* “I was in a stolen car and running from law enforcement, and those are not good choices or decisions, I fully admit.”
* “I am not an innocent party who should walk away without appropriate punishment for my crimes.”
Harwell told the court that Jaramillo’s letter marked the first time she had admitted to being the driver of the white Chevrolet Malibu during the police chase.
Jaramillo initially told officers that a man named Mark Lopez was driving the car and that she was curled up on the floor, Harwell said.
But photos of the Malibu taken after the crash showed the car’s passenger seat, floorboard and back seat filled with clothing, trash and other items, leaving no room for anyone other than a driver.
Hours after the incident, investigators began to suspect that Jaramillo was fabricating her allegations that a man had kidnapped her, poured gasoline on her and held her down at knifepoint while fleeing from police.
Harwell testified Tuesday that he was “about 50-50” on whether or not he believed Jaramillo when he initiated an interview with her the night of the incident. But during the interview, which was played for jurors on Tuesday, she contradicted previous statements she made and failed to provide verifiable information about a man named Mark Lopez, who she said had taken her hostage.
In the video, Harwell and another officer ask Jaramillo if she was friends with Lopez on Facebook, and she said she was, but that he unfriended her after an argument.
“If I go out and tell the world, ‘This is what she said,’ they’ll laugh at me and say, ‘How convenient,’” Harwell tells her.
He said in court on Tuesday that he had become increasingly skeptical of her story.
“It became increasingly clear that she was not entirely truthful in her statement,” Harwell said. “More and more things were not right.”
Family members of Duran and Lovato were present every day at the trial, which started Friday and will last the rest of the week. A crew from the national television channel Court TV filmed the proceedings on Tuesday.
