Adam Lovato/Courtesy NMSP

On Sept. 16 at about 8:19 p.m. the New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau was called to investigate the homicide of Ivan Maestas (39) of Alcalde, NM.  Maestas was found by the Espanola Police Department (EPD) deceased in a vehicle parked on a dirt lot on the corner of State Road 68 and Las Vegas Street, in Espanola, NM.

Through investigation State Police agents learned that Maestas had been at a residence on Ophelia Drive in La Puebla where he got into an altercation with Adam Lovato (34) of Espanola.  During the encounter Lovato discharged a firearm striking Maestas.  Maestas was placed into a vehicle by an individual and taken from the residence towards the hospital.  That vehicle ran out of gas on State Road 68 where it was located by EPD.

Maestas was pronounced deceased by the Office of the Medical Investigator in that vehicle.  Adam Lovato was arrested and booked into the Santa Fe County Detention Center charged with Murder in the Second Degree, Tampering with Evidence, Possession of Firearm by a Felon and Resisting, Evading a Police Officer.  This investigation remains active with no additional information currently available.