Jonathon Garnand and Devone Blake were two young Alamogordo men on the wrong path in life. They could have turned their lives around, but they were never given the chance. That’s because their evil associates killed them over a drug deal gone bad when they were both only 19. Then their killers evaded justice for 6 years while they actively tormented Garnand’s mother. This double murder went cold – but two arrests have finally been made.
Jonathon Garnand got involved in drugs and gangs at a young age. Shortly before his death, his family moved to Las Cruces. That move was only 65 miles away and Garnand still returned to Alamogordo often to see his friends and engage in drug dealing. One of those friends was Devone Blake, someone he had been close to since childhood who lived in Alamogordo. A botched drug deal led to their deaths on November 2, 2014.
Blake and Garnand were sitting in a 2003 maroon Chevy Impala on the 1000 block of Alamogordo’s Hendrix Avenue, right within plain view of the bustling 10th Street. Surveillance video captured them having an encounter with two unidentified individuals. Then the individuals shot them and took off running, leaving the passenger door of the car open as it rolled into a fence.
Police were called about a suspicious car parked on Hendrix Avenue. When they arrived, they found Garnand and Blake alive in the front seats, bleeding and pleading for help. They were unable to say who had shot them. They were transported to Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, the hospital in Alamogordo, then airlifted to the nearest trauma center in El Paso. Garnand died first on November 4, 2014, and Blake died six days later.
The case quickly went cold. Despite periodic reviews, detectives couldn’t seem to crack it. That seems odd that it took so long, considering the plethora of available evidence – including cell phone GPS, a surveillance video, eyewitnesses from 10th Street, and the packages that Garnand’s mother started receiving.
For a year after the murders, Garnand’s mother, Anna Alcala, was tormented by the killers. Once a month, she would receive a manila envelope containing items of her son’s, such as a red bandana he wore, scented with his cologne. A few days later, she would get another black envelope, containing white powder. These packages were traced by the cops to the only post office in New Mexico without cameras, located in Mesilla. Alcala believes the killers were driving from Alamogordo to Mesilla twice a month to mail the packages.
Then there was the text, sent to Alcala on her birthday. “please stop running your mouth about Kim…she’s not the reason your son is dead. He had it coming. He was a piece of sh..He went out like that and it’s only a handful of us who know what really happened. He was just another victim of the ghetto. Goodbye watch your mouth and your back.” Apparently tracing the number led nowhere.
As if the death of her son wasn’t enough, this poor woman had to deal with antagonization by the killers. I can’t imagine her heartbreak. Maybe Garnand’s killers thought he was a piece of shit, but I’m sure his mother could only think of the baby he had once been.
Alcala turned everything she received into the police in Las Cruces. They never shared the evidence from these packages or the text with Alamogordo PD. This hampered the investigation. The packages may have contained things like fingerprints, DNA, or some sort of clue about who was sending them. It is amazing to me that the Las Cruces police did not see to the Mesilla post office installing cameras to catch these guys in action.
Both mothers took to the news to plead with the public for information about their sons. They believed that many people knew what happened – too many people – and that there were probably many witnesses. But no one was talking. I think whoever called in the car was likely a witness who refused to talk, as well.
The case was finally revisited in 2020 by the 12th Judicial DA. Special focus was placed on two young men who had been calling and texting Garnand and Blake prior to their deaths about a drug deal. Cell phone GPS was finally obtained from the cell phone carriers, which placed these two men in the same location as the victims when they died. This was the hard evidence needed for the DA to bring charges against the killers. Amazing that it took so many years to retrieve.
On January 5, 2022, Johnathan Stewart, 28, was arrested in McKinney, Texas and booked in the McKinney County Detention Center. Then Angel Armendariz, 26, was finally apprehended due to a joint effort by the Texas Rangers and Milam County Sheriff’s Office. He was booked into the Milam County Detention Center.
Stewart and Armendariz had been buying drugs from Blake and Garnand back in 2014. The deal somehow went wrong – and they assassinated both boys as a result. They got away with it for over 6 years and apparently thought they would get away with it forever as they antagonized Anna Alcala.
Tragically, Garnand’s mother passed away in 2020 and never lived to see this day of justice. She was only in her 50s and I imagine the stress and horror of her son’s death played a role in her early demise. But Blake’s mother, Yevalda Lynch, is still alive and other surviving family members of both young men are eagerly awaiting trial to see these ruthless druggies punished. I am not sure which of the killers was tormenting Anna Alcala, or if they both were, but I certainly hope the judge takes that into consideration during sentencing.
One thing Armendariz and Stewart had right…Johnathon Garnand and Devone Blake were victims of the ghetto. It is a pity they were killed so young over something as stupid as drugs. I wish they had at least had the chance to grow up and find better paths for themselves. Now, their deaths serve as yet another cautionary tale not to mess with the dope game and the soulless people in it.
https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/2-arrested-in-connection-to-2014-alamogordo-double-homicide-case/
https://www.abqjournal.com/494633/two-men-shot-in-vehicle-died-from-injuries.html