Albuquerque Police Department, if you're in the apartment, make yourself known. Albuquerque Police Department. On September 5th, 2023, a routine check at a Day Inn turned into a horror show when Albuquerque officers discovered a room that looked more like a slaughterhouse than a motel suite. What started as a report of bloody footprints in the hallway led to the discovery of a man who had been brutally murdered. The severe intensity of the violence suggested this wasn't just a random act, but a deeply personal and savage attack. 911 emergency. We just found a body in the room. Is it dead? Yes. How do you know he's dead? I was walking by, I see bloody footprints. I called the manager to see if it's okay for me to kick it. And you know for sure he's dead, like he was cold to the touch? >> Yeah, he's the place of soap was was wet everywhere. >> [music] >> 911 emergency. There's a There's a man murdered in the one of the rooms here. We called paramedics about an hour ago, and nobody's showing up. >> I'm not sure how much longer it's [music] going to be, but officers and paramedics are aware. Check to see if he's alive. He's still warm. This is fresh. He's just laying there. You need any of your gear? No, he he's he has uh apparent uh like the clear spinal fluid like brain fluid. He's definitely Okay. His lips are gray, too. Okay. He's 10-7. Oh, he has goulashes on the back of his head. What's up on him? Somebody was in there last night. Last night? >> Maybe even 4:00 nights. All right. I got him. What's taking you? Obviously deceased, blood everywhere. We see footprints coming from here all the way to the unit right over there, 117. So, here are the footprints. So, that's where the body is. Mhm. There and then you start trailing. It starts to slowly taper off. One right here. The very end right over here. The scene at the Days Inn was beyond horrific with blood literally trailing out of the room like a macabre red carpet. Officers followed those footprints straight into a nightmare where the victim had been stabbed over 80 times. It's hard to imagine the level of rage required for that kind of overkill. They They go in Come out, buddy. They walk down to the end and then they walk out and follow him go out where my unit is. So much so much blood. I'm not bad. I I have to kind of make sure you step on the drier spots. Oh, [ __ ] Is that one? Yeah. Yeah, this No way. No, it's arterial. He There was a struggle for it. That's going to be a fun one to clean up. Who does that? Who cleans that stuff up? Hazmat cleaning. Ooh, that sucks. And I bet you they're going to take off her shoes off and stuff and wrap her feet in sheets. I asked about the bathroom. I went in and heard some banging. Then when I came out, Mr. AJ had some type of knife and he's holding a machete. He was fighting with him and then I noticed a lot of blood and I tried to stop it. When I tried to stop it, he cut my hands. At that moment, I completely froze. You said that um Ramon was alive. What was left? How do you know? Because he was talking. He was gasping. And I was like, "Oh my god. Oh my god." Did you volunteer? Yes. >> need anything, you stop us anytime. We appreciate you being here. So Angel, um I don't know if you remember me. It's been a little while since we talked, but I'm Connor Kuhlman, the primary detective that's working the case. It's nice to see you again and I'm glad we're sitting down at the same table again for you again, okay? Um Surveillance footage caught Angel Salazar and a man named AJ leaving the room while covered in blood. Angel actually tried to claim she was just a witness who froze when the bickering turned into a wild fight. She had the nerve to say the victim was still talking when she left despite him being smacked beyond recognition. Her story was full of holes and lacked any shred of logic. >> Just before we start talking, one of the things I want to let you know is it's a massive priority to me in this investigation to identify the man that went into that room with you. Yes. Um that of course is not it's not all I care about. I want to know all of the facts, but that is a huge priority to me. If there's anything that you've told me before that isn't accurate, um either because you remember it wrong or because you told me something that wasn't true, I'm not upset about that. Okay. I really really really Just want to know the >> I just want to know the truth. Yeah. And this is getting the truth is worth all of the time in the world, all of the time in the world. I'm on call right now. I picked up a case yesterday. I am there's I have an abundance of work to do, but it is worth all the time in the world to get the truth from you. I mean no disrespect when I say this. If that isn't your intention with this conversation, it's not worth any time to sit down and hear anything that is untrue. Does that make sense? >> That makes sense. Okay. Um so what can you tell me? Um um I'm willing to um if you show me like a photograph and tell you if that's him, it is him. I want to get down to the bottom of this as well. This has been a horrible experience for me. I've never thought I'd be in this experience and I want to figure this out probably way more than you do. Um I just want to get to the bottom of everything and figure out why this happened and and you know, um why was I put in the middle of something like this? So, this impacts you in a compelling way, of course, in a in a intensely personal way. Detective Coleman sat across from Angel, practically begging her for the truth while she played the victim card. She claimed she wanted to get to the bottom of why she was put in the middle of a murder. It was absolutely insufferable to watch her pretend to be an innocent bystander in such a savage crime. She was clearly fishing for a way out of her mess. Naturally, um but I'll be entirely honest with you. Um Angel, if I if I had a picture of who did this, aside from the pictures from the surveillance footage, we wouldn't be having this conversation. True. Right? >> Yes. Cuz then I would know who it was, and then, you know, God willing, they'd be in custody shortly thereafter. So, this is where you tell me Okay. >> This is where you help me. Okay. Um as far as I know, he was from Colorado. Mhm. Um he was in his 30s. Okay. Um uh he did tell me that he had uh family members in Texas. Okay. Um I was told that he was from Pueblo. Um I don't know how him and Ramon knew one another. Um I know that they were talking um early in the morning when I was getting ready and um it was his uh reasoning why we went into that room. Um Um and I'm sorry explain that to me. Um so um so I met him through another person. Mhm. And um I was supposed to go in there with another guy um but the guy that I walked up to the um to the motel with when I went in to try to go get the room, I didn't have enough money. So um the guy that I was supposed to have the room with um said he didn't want to and that's why I landed up with the the other gentleman, the um Justin Antonio guy. Um and um So what what is his last name? Uh Vargas, I believe. >> Vargas? Finally, a name dropped. Justin Antonio Vargas. Angel claims she only ended up with him because she was short on cash for a room. Which sounds like a very convenient excuse. She tried to act like she was racking her brain for every tiny detail to help, but it felt more like she was auditioning for a role in a low-budget legal drama. Now, I this is a question I have to ask you. We sat down I believe about a year ago, maybe more than a year ago. I got my And there was no last name that you provided then. What I like to know is where is this information coming from now? Um I really sat back and tried to remember every single detail um of what I had conversations with him, what he said to me, um I tried to go over a billion times of you know, everything that went on and you know, I'm trying to do everything that I can to figure this out because I really want to know where he is because he deserves to be you know, locked up, not myself for doing what he did. You know, and I have tried to talk with John and tell him I'm here to try to figure everything out as much as I can. I was hoping I was hoping that the nature of this conversation would be a little different. I'm not I mean, maybe if you were to ask me I'm not sure exactly how I'm supposed to what what you what I'm like Well, and I'm and and I'm just going to be straight up. >> Okay. I think you're being untruthful, Angel. In fact, I'm In fact, I'm very confident that you're being untruthful. But I'm not being untruthful, and I know that you feel that way, but I'm not going to put my life on the line for somebody else I don't even know. I don't know this person. I don't have no no ties with anybody, and I'm not even from here. And I want to know I want to get to the bottom of this with everything. Okay. I mean, I >> Had you ever met Ramon before? No, I don't think No. So, can I interject? Absolutely, of course. So, is that your common The tension in the room spiked when the detective flat-out called her a liar. Angel's defense was that she wouldn't put her life on the line for someone she didn't know, yet she was definitely in that room. She kept insisting she wanted to get to the bottom of things. Okay. And >> [sighs] >> Let me see. And then after we after I left my room he said, uh, "Let's stop by here real fast." And I said, "No, I didn't want to stop there." And he said, "It's going to be like 10 minutes." So, when I went in, then that's how everything happened. >> I mean? I went into the room and they were smoking methamphetamines and I didn't want to smoke that day because I wanted to um I was sick and um I wasn't feeling good and I didn't have very much strength and to go and um meet somebody else to go find something to get better. I went into the bathroom. I turned on the light and when I was in the bathroom, I heard like thudding, like shuffling. Um I figured that they were fighting and then when I came out of the room I seen them, you know, Justin hitting uh Mr. Uh What's his name? Um Mark Mark Mark Ramos? Yes, yes, I Okay. I'm sorry. I'm really really nervous. >> Yeah, no, I understand. It's a racking process. >> And um And uh I I tried stopping it and um when I stopped it um my finger got cut and I froze and then I wanted to get out of there and I left the room and then uh I went back for my crystal roller cuz I got crystal rollers and then I left and I didn't And may I may I interject is that okay? Yeah. According to Angel, she tried to stop the fight and got a cut for her troubles, but then her survival instinct kicked in to grab her makeup bag. Imagine seeing a man getting stabbed and thinking, "Wait, I can't leave without my crystal roller." Truly a priority check. Um tell me about going back for your crystal roller. Um I had a a makeup bag and I went and I got my makeup bag because I had taken things out of my suitcase when I went into the bathroom and I figured like he was fine. I didn't know that he was dead. He was still like yelling and cussing and I thought he would be okay and when I left I didn't think anything was going to happen to him. This is after you left the hotel? Yes. >> May I interject? Have you seen photographs of the crime scene? No. I'm I'm not trying This is none of I'm not trying to set you up for anything. This is If this was a trial and you have lawyers do their thing and they kind of No. >> they know more than they're asking. The reason I'm asking if you've seen the photos, this guy was allegedly actually dead. It was so obvious that he was like just he was beyond dead. So, please understand. I >> There is no way that when you left the room you thought this guy wasn't like totally gone for good from this earth. There's no way. I would have a second. Sure. Just going to turn that off. So, I believe Mr. McCollough sounds like had a conversation with you about providing new information that hasn't been provided. What new information do you have that hasn't been provided? The new information I have is that I believe that the people at the motel had more info than what anyone was saying. Um some of the ladies were saying that they knew that Mr. McCollough had money. Um Um there was people that were losing drugs in the in the in the motel with the cleaning people. Um I feel like some of the people knew more than what was going on there than The detective had to remind her that the victim was bludgeoned so badly he was beyond dead. There was no way anyone could leave that room thinking he'd just walk it off with some aspirin. Angel then tried to pivot blaming the motel staff and claiming they knew the victim had money. She was desperate to point the finger at anyone else but herself. than anything. So you had knowledge Ramon had money? Um, from the transcripts, yes. And um So don't tell me about witness statements. Don't tell me we're here to talk about information that you have based on first hand knowledge. Okay. Please don't Don't tell me what other people told you. Oh, okay. Okay. I I don't need I genuinely don't need theories from you. >> Okay. Um, there was um the um uh the the guy that the guard the guy that used to work there at night. Mhm. Tom would walk around with a machete all the time. >> Yep. I know that. Um, oh. Yes. Yep. And you And you you know that cuz Cuz I've seen him with it. Yeah. >> Yeah, but you know that I already know that. Oh, I I didn't know that. You're familiar with the case material, I know. So things that you know. Okay, things that I know. What else you know? Um >> Cuz here's the thing. Was Tom in the room with you? No. Okay. So it wasn't Tom. But Tom was the first person to call. Like how do I know that Tom didn't do that and then call somebody else? >> How do you know Tom didn't do that? Cuz you were in the room when this man did it as you've already told me that. Angel, what are we What are we doing here? I'm not trying to I'm I'm not trying to be argumentative, but Angel, please. If if if you're not going to tell me truthful things that you know, then then I think that Derek and I probably there's no utility for us being here and having this conversation, genuinely. She tried to bring up Tom the guard, but the detective shut that down fast. He reminded her that she was the one in the room, not some random guard. Angel was clearly drowning in her own nonsense, trying to use case material she'd read to craft a new story. It was a pathetic attempt to distract from her own bloody involvement. Which is okay, too. >> Yeah, and that's okay. I'm not trying to harangue you. We will have a trial and we'll see what information is available >> understand the about the case. >> charges against you. But I don't I don't want to go down for something that I didn't want to do. We don't want you to go Well, and you have >> Well, there's there's two possibilities here, okay? One is that what you're saying is true and I'm here to defend you on that, okay? And that certain things happened that were out of your control. And the second is they don't believe that you don't know the person that was involved. And they believe that you know more about sort of why this thing may have been planned, if it was planned. And and that that information would help them. So, one of those is true. It doesn't a jury will sit in the jury box and decide which of those is true. There there there was something about that and I don't and apparently there is something going on with some type of um money and someone was mad at someone. Um I don't know. Um I try not to know too much because I thought the less I knew the better off that I would be. Um Well, you you know what a honey pot is, right? No. What do you mean? Okay, a honey pot is a pretty girl who is often used to set somebody up to murder them. Oh, no, I would never I would never >> them. I would never rob anyone. Okay, but that's a very common thing that we deal with in our work. Okay. And so a girl is often used to get into the room. Because the person's expecting to be with the girl or whatever. And so that's called a honey pot murder or a honey pot robbery. No, I was not there to rob anyone and But do you understand why the authorities are The honey pot theory finally made its debut. And Angel acted like she'd never heard the term before. The detective suggested she was the bait used to set up the victim for a robbery or murder. She denied it, claiming she had no reason to rob anyone. It's the oldest trick in the book. And she played the part of the bait perfectly. She's wanting to know you know what you know because from their perspective given all the facts that were in play at the time you know, this could look like a honey pot murder. No, I I would never do that and I didn't have a reason for anything like that. You know, I would never put anyone in the in a situation that way. I'd never um I I've never had any type of background of of of >> And And Angel And I And I And I'm going to say again with the with the utmost respect and empathy towards you. I know you are a human being and I know that this regardless of the facts, the entire process has been placed a tremendous amount of stress on you. I I know that. Um you know, the purpose of this conversation of course is not to you know, plead your innocence to me I know. because that is you know, again you will have due process in a room much like this where there will be a jury sitting right there. Um So so I believe the evidence exists to convict you of this crime. Okay? Now, again, my opinion on that matter is simply my opinion on that matter. It's up to the state to prove these things, and you have defense counsel and the rights of the Constitution afforded to you just like any one of us, okay? Um so I I say that to say um there's no there's no need for you to plea your innocence to me. Is there any way that you could show me Renee? Or A picture of her? Yeah, can I know can I see a picture of Renee to see if if if I remember is there a certain is there a picture that I could see of of of Have you spent Angel was told straight up that the evidence was already there to convict her. So her dumb act was useless. She even asked to see a picture of Renee hoping for a memory refresh. It felt like she was just looking for new characters to add to her fictional narrative. She was grasping at straws while the walls closed in. Have you ever been to Pueblo, Colorado? Yes, I've been to Pueblo, I've been to Colorado Springs. >> How many times have you been to Pueblo, Colorado? Um I don't know. Um I've been to Texas, I've been here, I've been to San Luis, Las Vegas. Let's just take Pueblo for now, and I know like I couldn't tell you how many times I've been to LA exactly, but I could give I could like estimate it, right? Are you are you able to to estimate how many times? Um Maybe 100 times. >> Okay, so you Okay, so you Okay. Yeah, I I live in a small town, so we would go in You're from your town, and it's right it's right up there, I now. Um Okay. When you spoke with, and this is something I want you to really lock into. Okay. When you spoke with who we believe to be Justin, the ten possibly Justin, but the man that went in the room with you. You told me that you think he might be from Pueblo just now. Like well, not just now, but during this conversation, right? Yes. Do you recall how you came to learn that information? Like did he tell you that? Yes. And again, I'm just thinking just if it were me, and let's say it's like somewhere I visited a hundred times, and let's say you know, let's say John and I I I found out John was from somewhere I've been a lot of times, I might share a conversation [music] like, "Hey, have you been to this place? Have you ever seen this? Have you ever done these things?" Just because it's a place that I know we'd be both really familiar with. Okay. Did you guys talk about anything like that? Like anything you might have had in common up there? Any places you would go to? Um no, but he kept talking about She admitted to visiting Pueblo a hundred times, but couldn't recall a single conversation with Justin about it. She claimed he was a loner whose mom had passed away, trying to build a sympathetic profile for her co-defendant. It was a classic move to make the killer seem like a tragic figure instead of a monster. She was really working hard for that witness status. his family from Texas. And that he was there, and his mom had passed away. Um and I told him what would bring him to New Mexico. >> Mhm. And he was saying he didn't really have people, so um he did tell me that um God, I'm trying to remember. Uh all right, conversation. It's almost been You said he didn't go to New Mexico a lot. Cuz his mom had passed away or I didn't >> I think um he didn't really have anyone. It sounds like he had lost his mom. He had had family in Texas. Was his mom in Texas? >> so. >> But he was from Pueblo and I'm kind of making the assumption that if he was from Pueblo and he said he lost his mom and didn't really have anyone, presumably he didn't like have anyone in Pueblo either. Maybe he just was from there. Yeah. He said >> [clears throat] >> that he was from Pueblo and um What else did he say? Um he was mad because they um the guy from his house kicked him out. Okay. His house where? Here in Albuquerque. He was staying with somebody. >> Okay. Um it was kind of close to the hot uh Cuz it's a hospital close to the motel, right? The the um It's a hospital and then there's a park um close to that. We went over this before. We were talking about Presbyterian Hospital and Roosevelt Park. Yes. Yes. That's what you're talking about. >> Yes. He was somewhere around there. Um Cuz she doesn't know the Yeah, the names of Yeah, just that that area. Um and um he was real anxious. Um um I felt like Excuse me. he was he was a little frustrated with something and I kept thinking it was I was frustrated with me, but I mean Angel tried to frame Justin's state of mind as the reason things went south while still acting like she was just a confused bystander. She kept begging to see those photos of Renee, desperate for any visual cue to help her spin a more convincing web of lies. Well, when um I [clears throat] I want Is there any way I could see pictures of Renee? Of Renee? I think we uh I'll need a minute. Uh but I might be able to I might be able to scare one up for you. Okay. Um So, then I could see like if I can remember her or not. >> Mhm. You're like a family connection. Yes. Yes. Um I'm not Sometimes I'm not good with names and sometimes I'm better off with faces. If I were to see, then maybe that can refresh my memory with something. >> think that can be a that can be a a helpful tool. Yes. So, um Um [clears throat] Yeah. One uh another question I want to ask. So, Justin from Colorado, [cough] when did he get to Albuquerque? Um I don't >> I'm asking that again. Just Just my thinking, not necessarily. But again, when I find out somebody has, let's say, come to Albuquerque from somewhere else, one of the, you know, uh commonly I'll ask like, "Oh, how long have you been in town?" Did Can you remember that? Um not really. Okay. We were talking about this in the last interview that you did. Kind of a little bit, yeah. But I would I mean, we I I wasn't there to know the guy. I was there to I was shooting myself to to have a place to stay at night Right. and not be in the streets >> Mhm. and I said for my questions today. The I was just a street girl defense came out in full force. Ah, she claimed she was only there to have a place to stay and avoid the streets, which is a sad story if it didn't involve a hatchet murder. She tried to make her presence in the room seem like a matter of survival rather than a placid fight trap. The detectives remained unimpressed. You know, I can get you back. Um I appreciate you coming down here. Like I said, I'm not going to hide the ball. I'm going to be straight up with you. Um My office is the one that handles any kind of possible plea negotiations. I can't We're not We're not there yet. I We have trial on April 7th uh potentially. I don't I don't think it's trial. The trial would be in April or May. Oh, okay. That'll be a relief because I have a a must-do trial in Moran with his team. I mean, you know, there are other possible continuances. So, it's your It's your call where my head's at with that. Um so, I want to show you some some video you may may have already may have seen. So, this is right before See, I'm not trying to hide the ball. You have full access to this, but this is I've never seen these pictures, though. Well, this is Well, you've seen the picture, but you haven't seen the video. >> Yeah, this is the evidence video of This is right before you guys run in the room. All right? I'm not making any of this up. This is the video. This is the evidence I have going to trial. He's not wearing gloves. And there's going to be a shot Oops, sorry. Still shot of right after right after you guys come out. Now, he's wearing gloves. This guy hacked um He hacked Ramon Martinez to death in front of you. We know that. So, if you're telling us that's not true, like we don't have anything else to talk about. So, we know that. Um if you left the room and and you didn't think there was anything like this guy was was totally gone. That's what you left the room. And let's see. This. This is what was going on in the room when you guys left. So, you got to understand why when I sit here with you and you say I didn't know if he was going to be okay. You know, we we know that you know he's dead. Okay? We know there's a guy in there, he had a hatchet. We don't know your entire involvement. But right now, we don't know who he is. Rayan Martinez, this is the daughter of Ramon. She said she knows you. Does they Are they Do they know my the father of my kids somehow? The detectives continued to press her on why she was so involved in this Justin character's life if she barely knew him. Angel kept circling back to her own supposed trauma, acting as if she were the victim of a bad coincidence. Every time the evidence got too close, she'd hide behind her nerves. It was a repetitive, tiring performance. And that's What's his name? Antonio. Yeah, we He's in there. >> He They know Antonio? How do they know Antonio? What does this have to do with Antonio though? Cuz I feel like every No, I I met Antonio in Raton, okay? Um I ended up having kids with him. He had a completely different life before I met him. He was incarcerated for 10 years. He knew a lot of people that I didn't know. Um anytime that people would come around, he'd keep me in the car, keep me in the house. >> [snorts] >> Um and when I went Um the only reason my people at the motel even knew somewhere to meet me is because my house was in a fire and we had told people there and they were you know, I I took it as they were trying to help me. Um but um >> Your parents and his parents were in a custody battle over your children. Yes. So, what does that have to do with the guy in the video? Those are people that he knows. >> Yes. >> Who were with him. There's only one guy in there. I cuz I don't want to have the ball. I'm going to walk out of the room with a copy of the information where you went to trial. I'm going to charge you with first-degree murder. I've amended the indictment to felony murder. You came out of the room with an extra bag. You guys went Here's Here's Here's what I believe. And I'm going to argue this to the jury. You went in the room to rob this guy, and you did. And things went south. Maybe you didn't intend to kill him, but with felony murder, it doesn't matter. If somebody dies I never went there to try to rob anybody. I didn't know anything. You came out with an extra bag. That was my bag. That was >> You don't have to say anything. You You see, your fate doesn't get decided by arguing with him right now. It's It gets decided by jury. But he's just telling you what his approach is going to be. Okay? But I'm asking you where where that bag came from. You went in the room with the one bag you came in with. You came out with an extra bag. Is that not accurate? I want to catch this guy. As As I believe he's more culpable. And I think he At this point I'm trying to figure it out, and I want to know. Are we done? We're done. So, that's it. Thank you. The interview wrapped up with Angel still trying to act like a victim of circumstance. She had plenty of chances to tell the truth, but she chose to weave a messy tale instead. Her voluntary truth was just a messy collection of contradictions and makeup bag priorities. The detectives were done playing her game, knowing they had more than enough to put her away. If you're If you reached the maximum of where you can go, that's okay. Thank you. Just today don't Just today. Thank you. First, thank you. This is what I appreciate. This is what I thought. Here. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to keep working on this until we get something. Okay. Got nothing else. Right. Got nothing So. You want to tell me who the guy is, but that's That's the whole thing. >> Angel Salazar tried to play the role of a confused witness, but her actions spoke much louder than her words. You don't walk back into a murder scene for a crystal roller if you're truly terrified. Her beastly behavior and lack of respect for human life were on full display throughout the interrogation. She thought she was being smart, but she only proved she was unfit for civil society. On October 16th, 2025, she was hit with charges of felony murder, second-degree murder, and tampering with evidence in connection with the violent attack that took place inside the hotel room. If you found this case shocking, share your thoughts in the comments below, and don't forget to like and subscribe for more real body cam footage and police encounter breakdowns. Turn on notifications so you never miss the next video.