Valencia County woman charged in deadly RV hit and run in Belen

Valencia County deputies charged Djohni Orndorff, 45, with second-degree murder after surveillance video allegedly showed an RV running over her boyfriend in Belen. The case centers on Gerald Marquez Jr., who was found dead near Square Deal Road and Cielo Vista Road in Valencia County after deputies described an argument involving the vehicle.

On June 30, prosecutors filed an almost 200-page motion to keep Orndorff in jail until trial, and a judge agreed. Deputies traced the RV to Orndorff and found her while she was pulled over with a flat tire. If convicted, she faces up to 18 years in prison, and she was being held at the Socorro County Detention Center on a $25,000 cash-only bond.

The charge has drawn added scrutiny in Valencia County because Orndorff has been tied to another fatal driving case in Belen. In 2014, deputies connected her to the death of 16-year-old Tanner Woolley, who was riding a motorcycle when he was hit. Woolley’s mother said Orndorff was drunk, and Orndorff later pleaded guilty and received a 180-day sentence with time served.

Woolley’s family has publicly criticized that earlier outcome, and the new murder case has revived questions about warning signs, prior incidents, and how quickly dangerous driving behavior is confronted before it turns deadly. Those questions sit inside a broader New Mexico courtroom reality, where the state Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that some drunk drivers convicted of vehicular homicide can be released halfway through their sentence if they earn good-time credit.