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My name is Alicia Otero and I am one of the Co-Founders of the NM Crusaders for justice.

I have been married 25 years and we have 4 beautiful children. An unfortunate loss to my family was the loss of my oldest son Elias Otero on February 11th of 2021.

On the night of February 11th 2021 my youngest son was lured on social media by a female. He went to meet her that night in a park here in my home town of Albuquerque NM. When he arrived he was ambushed by 3 assailants. He was dragged out of the car, beaten and forced to undress. They planned this robbery and they thought they were going to be getting cash from Nick. When they found out he had no cash they were livid and demanded cash immediately or they would kill him.

Nick didn’t know where to take them so he took them to his oldest brother’s house because Elias was trained in firearm safety and had firearms at his home. When they arrived , Nick called from outside and told Elias he was outside and needed $1000 in cash or they would kill him. Elias was always the protector of his siblings and was not going to let this happen. When Elias went outside he went with his firearms and demanded them to let his brother go.

Elias was shot 5 times and passed away in the driveway of his home.

After experiencing criminals taking my child’s life. I had no idea what to do so I reached out to the community and social media. There Sally Sanchez reached out to me and I found great comfort in speaking to her. Almost one year before the loss of my son , I lost my nephew Kyle Martinez. My sister in law Josette Otero and Sally helped me tremendously in my lowest point in my life. I decided something had to be done.

Through our journey and new lives, we noticed there was no communication with law enforcement or resources for the families of homicide. We also noticed what weak laws and lack of accountability we have here in the state of NM.

We Are the voices for our children and all families of homicide. We fight for better laws and accountability while offering resources and group support to all families.

My name is Sally Sanchez, I am one of the Co-founders of the New Mexico Crusaders for Justice and this is my story.

I am a mother to 3 beautiful children. I have two daughters who live in Albuquerque and my son Antonio who is my angel in heaven. My journey started on December 16, 2020, at 3:09 p.m. Antonio was living at a house on 8th Street with two other roommates. He had reconnected via Facebook with an old girlfriend and on December 13, 2020, she went to his home. In three days, she plotted with another person to have my son robbed and killed. During their plotting they brought in two other males and a female. On December 16th, she and them fought my son, tied him up, then executed him in his own home. Antonio was born on December 23, 1987, his murder was exactly one week to the day of his birthday, my son never made it to 33 years old. He will forever be 32.

When I found out that my son had been taken from us in such a heinous way, I was angry, I was in shock, I was in disbelief, but most of all my heart had been ripped out of my chest. Antonio was the youngest of my three children and my only son. What I came to realize is that I was lost in this new life that I had been given. I didn’t know of any resources; I didn’t know what the next step was. Yes, you plan a funeral service but then what. One day I was scrolling through Facebook and came across a video of a mother (Alicia Otero) whose son was just murdered. She was crying, she was angry, she felt lost, everything I had been going through, so I reached out to her as I felt her pain, I was her.

During our conversations we realized that in the State of New Mexico there are limited services for the families of the victims. Due to covid everything was closed, backlogged, or out of service. We both were directed to NIA/NM for grief support. That is where we started our grief support, the only agency in New Mexico who could help me to understand what I was feeling and dealing with.  You now can see how the two of us became to be the New Mexico Crusaders for Justice, the voice of our loved one who can no longer speak for themselves. To honor them till our last breath, to fight for justice, and to celebrate the life they lived.