The Three Murder Victims Named Joseph Moreno

I’m not sure why three men named Joseph Moreno were murdered mysteriously in New Mexico in the 2000s. But these cases are very disturbing and violent. One of these murders remains unsolved. Apparently, this was a bad-luck name in that time frame. I wish I had more information about these murder victims, but details are scant. We can’t just let them become forgotten, though, so I will share what I can find.

The 2000 Lovington Execution

Joesph Mereno and his son, Joe Jr., were shot exection-style in their Lovington home on January 12, 2000. Joe Jr was only 16 and a star football player at Lovington High School. His father was 49 and worked at the Lea County Correctional Facility watching cell block monitors. Before that, he had been a bail bondsman.

Around 7:00 pm on January 12, two men wearing bandanas over their faces entered the home and ordered the four family members present to lie on the kitchen floor. One of the gunmen then led Joseph Moreno Sr. to the living room and executed him in the head. The other gunman went into the bedroom where Joseph Jr. was and shot him in the chest.

They committed the executions within a matter of minutes. Then they left as quickly as they came, fleeing in an older model black car, possibly a Chevy Impala, which they had parked down the block.

Joseph Sr. was pronounced dead at the scene. The son was taken to the North-Lea Hospital, where he died around 7:45 pm. Seven or eight bullet casings were recovered from the home.

Investigators looked into links with Moreno Sr.’s job at the prison. They said they had “negative results” with that lead. Then they considered he may have been targeted by a disgruntled client from his work as a bail bondsman. Despite many leads getting called in, the case appeared to stall.

Finally, in 2005, two men were charged with the double murder – Luis Cisneros and Felipe Cisneros. The Cisneros brothers ran the East Valley gang, based out of Mesa and Chandler, AZ. They worked closely with the New Mexican Mafia to run meth and coke and operate a car theft ring where they stole cars, switched out VIN numbers, and then sold them.

Once they were in state custody, state witnesses began to die violent deaths in New Mexico and Arizona. They were believed to be ordering hits from within prison. Luis and Felipe were linked to 8 homicides, but they were only charged with the deaths of Joseph Moreno, Sr., and Joseph Moreno, Jr. in Lovington, and the shooting death of Aaron Romero in Mesa, AZ. It is believed that the Morenos were material witnesses to their crimes and died as a result.

The Cisneros brothers were set for trial in Las Cruces but it was moved to Arizona for security reasons. The presiding judge was so afraid of this gang that she ordered new bulletproof glass to be installed in her courtroom, instituted a no cell phone policy during the trial, and had all court attendees go through metal detectors. Her fear did not appear groundless since so many people ended up dead because of this gang.

It is tragic that a young 16-year-old boy with his life ahead of him and a father who loved his family had to die so needlessly. They never got to live out the years ahead of them due to the ruthlessness of some drug runners and car thieves. Fortunately, the Cisneros brothers were convicted of their murders and are behind bars now.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missing87975/unsolved-child-murder-joe-moreno-jr-t2627.html

https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/chandler/eight-members-of-e-v-crime-group-plead-guilty/article_c6b2eb07-2866-54d4-9e3e-4729759cc97c.html

The 2008 Mule Creek Execution

Joseph Louis “Joey” Moreno’s 2008 shooting is another bizarre murder in New Mexico. Like Pete Lopez or the Lovington Joseph Morenos, he was shot execution-style, but no one has any idea who might have done it. His case is now cold.

Moreno died on September 22, 2008. He was lying outside of his red car on a private driveway at Mile Marker 3 on Highway 78. The headlights of his car were still on and the engine was running. A song played on his radio. Someone had shot him in the head three times.

The driveway where he was killed is in a very desolate area near the Gila Wilderness and the Arizona state line, about an hour from Silver City. The nearest settlement is the microscopic village of Mule Creek. Hwy 78 is a little state highway that connects Three Way, AZ to US 180 to Glenwood, NM. Not many people travel it, so this crime was probably not random. I’m not sure whose driveway he was killed in and if that person was definitively ruled out as a suspect.

Remarkably few details can be found about this case and it’s not clear if he was robbed, if there were tire tracks at the scene, if there were any witnesses, or if there were any other clues that could point to a motive or a suspect.

I also can’t find much about Moreno himself or why he was in the area. My first instinct when reading about his murder was that he was involved in a drug deal gone wrong. But this is purely conjecture and I have no information about his lifestyle. I can’t find any information about him – was he a drug user or dealer? Did he have any enemies or people that he owed money to? What business did he have out in Mule Creek, which is a pretty desolate area?

Moreno was only 34 when he died. He was cremated and his funeral was in Silver City. He left behind a son, Joshua Seth, as well as his parents, his stepmother, and six siblings. As of today, his case remains unsolved. When Rachel Torrisi Sierra‘s body was found in the same area, police thought there might be a link, but it turned out Rachel was murdered by her roommate, Allen Hurley.