Farmington Double Homicide Suspect Files Pro Se Motions Seeking Dismissal

Andrew Whittenberg, 36, filed his second motion to dismiss within five weeks in his first-degree murder case in the 11th Judicial District Court on March 30, the latest in a series of pro se filings by a man charged with killing Kelly Heath, 46, and Brent Francis, 25.

Whittenberg has submitted four self-filed motions since February: an emergency pro se omnibus motion dated Feb. 19, a motion to dismiss dated Feb. 26, a motion for discovery on March 16, and the March 30 dismissal motion. The court forwarded the filings to his defense counsel rather than acting on them directly, citing a procedural threshold Whittenberg has not yet cleared: none of the filings requested to dismiss his attorney or to have him appear pro se in the case.

He was arrested Oct. 21, 2024, and in addition to two counts of first-degree murder faces charges of aggravated burglary, a second-degree felony; tampering with evidence and felon in possession of a firearm, both third-degree felonies; and larceny of a firearm, a fourth-degree felony. A jury trial is scheduled to begin July 20, 2026, at the district courthouse in Aztec.

Whittenberg is no longer housed at the San Juan County Detention Center. Under an order of safekeeping signed Oct. 14, 2025, he was transferred to the custody of the New Mexico Department of Corrections following a motion by the special prosecutor. Jail administrators described Whittenberg in court documents as a "potential liability and threat" at the county facility. A memorandum from detention staff catalogued at least six aggressive incidents involving Whittenberg and either staff or other detainees. County officials noted that moving him to state corrections custody reduced the jail's exposure to additional in-custody offenses and liability.

His documented history factored into that decision. Whittenberg successfully escaped custody in 2012, and that record, combined with the aggressive incidents at the county facility, was cited by jail administrators as justification for the transfer.

With the July trial date now fewer than four months away, the court's handling of the pending discovery and dismissal motions will shape what evidence reaches the jury and whether the charges survive intact. Heath and Francis were killed in what remains one of the higher-profile violent cases in Farmington in recent years, and the case has drawn sustained attention in San Juan County since Whittenberg's arrest.