Preston Ball gets 60 years for Albuquerque murder spree
Preston Ball was sentenced to 60 years after guilty pleas in two Albuquerque murders and two armed home invasions. Prosecutors tied him to the torture killing of Antonio Taylor and the slaying of Matthew Aragon.
A judge sentenced Preston Ball to 60 years in prison after his guilty plea to a 2024 crime spree that included two armed home invasions and the killings of Matthew Aragon and Antonio Taylor. The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office said the sentence brings a long prison term in a case that shook Albuquerque with allegations of kidnapping, murder and efforts to hide evidence.
Ball’s case began with the disappearance of Matthew Aragon. Albuquerque police said Aragon was reported missing after leaving home on Nov. 22, 2024, in his white Chrysler 300. Officers said Aragon was recovering from brain surgery and had left behind medicine he needed, making his disappearance especially urgent for investigators and his family.
Police arrested Ball and co-defendant Adam Perrucci on Dec. 3, 2024, in connection with Aragon’s killing. Court records later tied Ball to a wider pattern of violence that stretched beyond one missing-person case and into a second homicide. Prosecutors said Ball’s 2024 crimes also included two home invasions with firearms, deepening the scope of the case against him.
Authorities said Ball killed Antonio Taylor on Dec. 1, 2024. Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies found Taylor’s body inside a burned car behind a business on Fourth Street in Albuquerque. Court documents said Ball admitted to torturing Taylor for hours before killing him, then disposing of the body in the burning car with the help of three accomplices who allegedly helped clean up the crime scene.
The sentence lands as one of the most severe outcomes in a string of violent allegations that crossed Albuquerque neighborhoods, from the North Valley to the city’s commercial corridors. For Aragon’s and Taylor’s families, the 60-year term marks the end of a case built around kidnapping, murder and evidence tampering. For residents across Bernalillo County, it closes a case that prosecutors said was defined by armed home invasions, calculated violence and an attempt to erase what happened.
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