Andrew Jackson moved to New Mexico from Britain and changed his name to AJ Griffyn. Having a history of bipolar disorder, his family knew he was prone to obsessions and weird behavior. When he became enamored with the show Breaking Bad and decided to move to Albuquerque where it was set, it really wasn’t atypical of Andrew.
But then AJ Gryffyn was found bundled in plastic and decomposing in the desert near Magdalena. Someone had murdered him – and his Breaking Bad obsession was initially believed to have played a role. Had he tried to become Heisenberg and met his end as a result? The actual truth is so much more mundane, which I think makes the story worse in a weird way.
AJ Griffyn was from Sheffield, England, but moved to Manchester in 2009. He became obsessed with Breaking Bad and wanted to move to Albuquerque to be near where the AMC crime drama was set.
Eventually, he met a woman from Albuquerque online, married her over Christmas, and moved to Albuquerque with her a few weeks later in 2015. Things went south in the marriage within just a few weeks, though, and Griffyn moved out to live in hostels around Albuquerque.
By 2017, the couple was divorced. The divorce was quite acrimonious. Both filed restraining orders against each other and Griffyn was suing his ex-wife for damages. This was his second marriage that had fallen apart.
Needing a place to stay, Griffyn moved to a small farm off Edith NE. In addition to maintaining the house, Griffyn also helped care for chickens and goats. During this time, he was unemployed and his family was unsure how he paid the rent. The truth is that he was working on the farm in lieu of rent. He often worked with a 35-year-old man named Joaquin Roibal on the farm. The property was owned by the aunt of Joaquin Roibal.
AJ was a frequent Facebook user and posted strange things that worried his family. He even started a website, claiming that he was a Paris-trained chef. He also frequently posted about his farm, which surprised his family, as he had never been the farming type. His last post was on August 12, 2017, when he said he was going to the Flying Star (a café in Albuquerque) to write up some legal things.
He was never heard from again. His family did not think he was dead, though – they assumed he was simply going through one of his erratic periods. His brother, Robin Jackson, described Andrew as a “loose cannon.”
Eventually, in September, a hiker found Griffyn’s body off a trail near Magdalena, over a hundred miles from his dwelling in Albuquerque. He had been wrapped in plastic and bound with black electrical tape. Two vicious blows to his head had caused his death.
In the summer of 2017, Griffyn allegedly ceased working on the property. Joaquin Roibal began to email his mom, Griffyn’s landlady’s sister, who was in federal prison in California for wire fraud and social security fraud in the amount of $128,771.35. Instead of encouraging her sister to evict him like a normal landlady, Juanita told her son, “Get rid of that parasite.”
Joaquin Roibal acted on his mother’s wishes and killed AJ in his home and then dumped him in the desert. Blood spatter in the carpet and bedspread of AJ’s home indicated it was the crime scene. Blue plastic gloves and black tape were found in a duffel bag in Roibal’s Jeep, which linked him to the crime forensically. He also had some of Griffyn’s mail in that vehicle. He had emailed his mom on August 17, 2017, saying that he had evicted Griffyn from the property. This is believed to be the date of Griffyn’s murder.
Joaquin fled to Nevada after the murder. He was extradited back to New Mexico and charged with first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to commit murder. His mother was charged with conspiracy to commit murder. In 2022, the mother and son were scheduled for trial for Griffyn’s totally unnecessary death. I will later update with the results of the trial. In October 2022, Joaquin was let out on bail, despite the fact he is clearly a violent criminal and a flight risk. I worry he might disappear before the trial. I think he is sensitive to manipulation and his mother’s influence, and she was the true mastermind behind all of this. I also wonder what role the aunt played in all of this. She has refused to give any comments to the news.
Griffyn is an example of how people with mental illness tend to be victims instead of perpetrators, contrary to popular belief. Though he could be erratic, he did not deserve this at all. His love of Breaking Bad placed him in Albuquerque where only darkness was waiting for him, but he surely thought he was doing something cool with his life, only to have it robbed from him. His brother Robin describes Andrew as six foot tall and willing to defend himself, which suggests Joaquin Roibal probably snuck up on him and ambushed him in his bed, where many bloodstains were. He probably did not go without a fight.
He left behind an adult son and many family members who loved him. The police had a tough time tracking his family down in Britain, so they did not learn about his death until many months later. While his death has been solved, the pain will be ongoing for them. I hope his killers face harsh sentences and are not given slaps on the wrist like many New Mexico criminals are.
https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/new-mexico-man-and-his-mom-facing-charges-for-2017-murder/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/man-charged-murder-brit-breaking-27791177
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/family-british-victim-dumped-desert-28188543
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca10/17-2042/17-2042-2017-11-28.html