NM Woman Fakes Kidnapping After 2 Die In Crash: Police

SANTA FE, NM — An Albuquerque woman has been arrested after state police said she pretended to be kidnapped following a five-vehicle crash involving a stolen vehicle that left a police officer and retired firefighter dead.

Around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, New Mexico state troopers and Santa Fe police officers chased a Chevrolet Malibu. The suspect was reported to have been involved in a kidnapping and carjacking about a half-hour earlier in Santa Fe, state police said.

The chase began near Sawmill Road and St. Francis Drive and continued onto Interstate 25 where the vehicle drove southbound in the northbound lanes. Five vehicles crashed near Old Pecos Trail, including two police units, the Malibu, a pickup truck and a blue car.

Santa Fe Police Officer Robert Duran, 43, of Rio Rancho, and retired Las Vegas, New Mexico, firefighter Frank Lovato, 62, died of injuries suffered in the crash, state police said in a news release. The driver of the blue car was injured but was expected to survive.

After the crash, Jeannine Jaramillo 46, of Albuquerque, told police she had been kidnapped at knifepoint. She got out of the Malibu and was placed into the back seat of a police vehicle. She was taken to a hospital with injuries and later released. Jaramillo and other witnesses said an unidentified man ran from the crash on foot. He was said to be wearing a red shirt, black pants and a black jacket.

Investigators later learned the Malibu was reported stolen from Las Vegas, New Mexico, two days before the crash. The owner had left a key fob in the car as it warmed up before it was taken. The fob was found in the back seat of the police vehicle where Jaramillo was placed after the crash, state police said.

The car's computer data also showed only the driver's seat was occupied during the crash with the truck, police said. Also, Jaramillo’s DNA matched DNA found on the driver's airbag, troopers said.

State troopers arrested Jaramillo on Saturday afternoon in Albuquerque. She was booked into the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center on charges of first-degree murder by vehicle, receiving a stolen vehicle, aggravated fleeing law enforcement and tampering with evidence.

“I believe the arrest of Jeannine Jaramillo has made our community safer,” Tim Johnson, chief of the New Mexico State Police, said in a statement. “Her actions put the entire public in danger and took the lives of two dedicated public servants.”

Johnson added: “I hope that holding her accountable will provide some closure to Officer Duran and Frank Lovato’s family.”

Jaramillo told KOB-TV she and a man she dated were at a Santa Fe apartment complex when they began to argue.

"I wanted to come home and he didn't want to bring me, and it started a big argument. I was yelling for help to this one man who lived at the apartment, and he did help me, he called 911," Jaramillo said at the time.

She said he pulled out a knife and abducted her and that he also had a gun. A chase ensued on I-25. Jaramillo said she blacked out during the crash and doesn't remember how the suspect escaped. She said she crawled out the driver side window and screamed for help. She suffered a broken arm in the wreck.

"I'm crying, I was hysterical, I was in shock," she said.

Last year, police accused Jaramillo of fabricating that her boyfriend was involved in her serious crimes, KOB-TV reported, including one case in which she said he held her at knifepoint during a police chase. Police also never found the boyfriend.