Judge gives Kevin Geier 35 years for two Albuquerque murders

The 35-year sentence Judge Courtney Weaks handed Kevin Geier brought a late measure of accountability to two families tied to Albuquerque’s drug-fueled violence, but it did not end the case. Geier admitted in April that he killed Adrian Johnson and Samuel Almanza in March 2018, and prosecutors said the shootings happened five days apart.

Johnson was found dead in the parking lot of an apartment complex in northeast Albuquerque, while Almanza was killed in a motel room on the city’s west side. Investigators said both men were shot in the back of the head and believed the killings were drug-related. The sentence, announced June 22, also added to the punishment Geier is already serving for a separate March 6, 2018, murder, giving Bernalillo County’s victims’ families one more conviction but not a clean ending.

Relatives and friends spoke at the sentencing hearing, including Carin Johnson, who told the court her brother was trying to make a positive change in his life before he was killed. Her remarks underscored how long the case has hung over the family and how the delay has stretched the grief across eight years of investigations, arrests and court filings. In a county where homicides can take years to resolve, the sentence may bring closure to some, but it also leaves behind the reality that one suspect in Johnson’s killing remained outstanding as of October 2024.

Court records and police accounts tie Geier to a wider chain of violence in March 2018. He had already taken a plea deal in the killing of Larry Phillips, and prosecutors said he fled to Arizona after Almanza’s death, where he was later arrested. Authorities said he was found with multiple guns, including weapons stolen from Almanza. The Johnson case also led to the arrests of Toure Britt, Brandon Mendez and Jayde Lucas-Gutierrez, with police still searching for a fourth suspect.

For neighborhoods near Coors Boulevard and Interstate 40, and for the west side motel where Almanza was killed, the sentence closes one chapter in a set of killings that stretched detectives, courts and families for years. It also reflects the grinding pace of violent-crime cases in Albuquerque, where older homicides can remain open long after the neighborhoods that absorbed them have moved on.