Albuquerque police charge two in 2024 stabbing death outside Smith's

Nearly two years after Ty James was stabbed outside the Smith's at Yale and Coal, Albuquerque police have charged Emiliano Vallejos and Rosalyn Garcia in the killing. Detectives say the case turned on a stack of evidence, including surveillance video, DNA testing and recorded jail calls.

Police said James was found on July 12, 2024, outside the store at 320 Yale Blvd SE, near a bus stop at Yale Boulevard and Coal Avenue. Officers from the University Area Command responded around 1:15 a.m. to a report that a man appeared to be dead, and rescue personnel confirmed he had died at the scene.

The investigation remained open as detectives worked through the evidence. Court documents say DNA taken from the knife matched Vallejos. Police also said surveillance footage from nearby businesses showed two people leaving the area after the killing.

Detectives then turned to jail calls between Vallejos and Garcia. According to police, Garcia admitted in those calls that she had lied to investigators about the pair’s involvement. Investigators believe the two stole James’ phone and stabbed him to death.

The case stands out not just because charges came so long after the killing, but because it shows how homicide work in Albuquerque often depends on more than one kind of proof. A video image can place suspects near the scene, forensic testing can tie a suspect to a weapon, and recorded calls can help prosecutors understand what happened after the fact. APD’s homicide page still lists the case as open.

The killing also happened in a busy commercial corridor, outside one of Smith’s Food and Drug’s 14 grocery stores in Albuquerque. That visibility made the case harder to ignore for neighbors and shoppers in the area, and it added to a grim year for the city. Albuquerque police recorded 98 homicides in 2024.

The broader public-safety picture in Bernalillo County remains a central issue for local officials. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a gun-violence public-health emergency in September 2023, and the countywide violent-crime reduction operation that followed logged 15,807 arrests and 1,251 firearms seized through September 2024. For James’ family, the charges bring the case forward again, but the court process is only beginning.