N.M. Murder Suspect Captured After 25 Years

Feb. 7, 2012
After 25 years on the run, an Albuquerque man indicted for the 1987 executionstyle murder of his wife was arrested Monday in the San Francisco Bay area.

After 25 years on the run, an Albuquerque man indicted for the 1987 executionstyle murder of his wife was arrested Monday in the San Francisco Bay area.

Ronald Brewington, 67, moved several times and used numerous aliases to elude police after being indicted in 1988 in the killing of his wife, Diedre Brewington.

Diedre Brewington's body was found on Aug. 4, 1987, in her apartment on Coal SW. She had been shot twice in the back of the head with a .38-caliber pistol, according to a published report.

The Journal reported at the time that the victim was estranged from her husband, and the couple were receiving counseling. Police went to the apartment on a tip from the counselor.

Ronald Brewington was subsequently indicted in 1988 by a Bernalillo County grand jury on a first-degree murder charge, and a bench warrant was issued.

APD said Monday that Brewington left the state before the indictment and has been a fugitive since.

In tracking Brewington, detectives used information culled from databases maintained by different law enforcement agencies, Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said.

"You enter your information in one spot and you can search many different data bases," Schultz said. "You get a little piece here and a little piece there and you put together the pieces of the puzzle."

Schultz said he hopes Brewington will be extradited to New Mexico to face charges in Albuquerque.

"He was indicted here, so I believe here would be the court of jurisdiction," Schultz said.

APD spokeswoman Tasia Martinez said an APD Cold Case Unit began a followup investigation of the case last fall. Detectives tracked Brewington with the help of other agencies and learned he had moved several times and adopted a number of different aliases over the past quarter-century.

Through continued investigation, detectives found out what alias Brewington was using.

The Albuquerque office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Oakland and San Francisco police departments and the U.S. Marshals Service assisted detectives with the investigation, helping them to track Brewington to the Bay Area.

A Cold Case detective and other law enforcement traveled to the area to continue the investigation, which led to Brewington's capture, Martinez said.

Copyright 2012 - Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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