Murder Suspect Bound Over To District Court

By John Larson

SOCORRO - John James “Jack” Hayden, the man charged with being responsible for the death of Theresa Saiz-Chavez on June 8, was bound over to District Court Tuesday by Magistrate Judge Jim Naranjo.
Following closing arguments in Hayden’s preliminary hearing Tuesday, June 22, Naranjo said he had questions, but that there was probable cause for the bindover to District Court.
District Attorney Clint Wellborn called four witnesses for the prosecution including Lupe Tarango, the dispatcher who took the 911 call from Saiz-Chavez; Socorro Police Capt. Angel Garcia, who discovered Saiz-Chavez’s body in the trunk of her Dodge Neon; Gloria Vigil, an investigator from the Office of the Medical Investigator; and New Mexico State Police crime scene coordinator Steve Montano.
Defense Attorney Lee Deschamps called no witnesses.
Although Magistrate Court initiated a security alert with two sheriff’s deputies and two state police officers present, the only spectators were members of the victim’s family and friends of the defendant.
A major part of the testimony involved a recording of the 911 call made at 7 a.m., on June 8; and interviews with Hayden conducted at the State Police headquarters in Escondida.
Tarango testified that Saiz-Chavez sounded very scared and shaky. “Very excited.”
“She said she was in the trunk of her car and was unable to get out,” Tarango said. “She said she did not know where her car was.”
When Tarango asked her how she got in her trunk, “she was not sure how she got there.”
Tarango testified that she said a man named “Jack” was harassing her, stalking her.
“Then she added ‘Hayden’.” She identified her car as a dark green Dodge Neon.
Tarango testified that she told him he worked at Pizza Hut and that he lived in the Valverde, gave him his address and phone number. “She said [Hayden] was trying to be with her and was harassing her. She said she didn’t want to be with him.”
While he still had Saiz-Chavez on the line, Tarango called another officer on the radio to check the area around the Valverde.
He said the line went dead after about six minutes.
After a short recess, the recording of the call was played in court.
On cross examination, Deschamps asked Tarango that at any time “did Theresa say Jack put her in the trunk?”
Tarango said, “She did not know how she got in the trunk … She said Jack harassed her the night before.”
Deschamps said, “Her concern was that she could not get out of the car. Not that someone put her in the trunk?”
Tarango testified that she said Jack had been chasing her, that she didn’t know how long she had been in there, and that she hadn’t seen Jack “in the last hour or so.”
After Tarango was excused, Capt. Angel Garcia related how the Neon was discovered, and described the location of the bridge off Chaparral.
He said the car was located by Socorro County Deputy Sheriff Larry Smith, who contacted Garcia at 12:19 a.m. After the trunk was opened, calls were made to the State Police and the medical investigator.
Gloria Vigil, from OMI, testified about the condition of the body when she arrived at about 8 a.m., noting that the only marks were on the palm of one hand, and abrasions on two fingers.
She also said in the trunk were a purse, keys and cell phone.
Steve Montano of the state police investigative bureau testified that he interviewed Hayden three times that Tuesday. “He indicated that he got off work at Pizza Hut at 11 p.m. (Monday) and tried to locate Theresa through the night.
“He said someone told him she was cheating on him,” Montano said. “He said he was searching for her …and met up with her on Frontage Road, east of the interstate. He said he tried to get her to stop and rammed her car twice,” Montano said.
The second time he rammed her, she stopped and the two had a verbal exchange, and he asked her “why are you doing this?” he said.
Montano said Hayden told him he reached into her car and took a bracelet he had previously given her from the steering wheel area. The rear bumper was found on the road at that location.
Then Saiz-Chavez drove away and he chased her again and bumped her car a third time. near the bridge, Montano said. No debris was found at the spot he stated he rammed her the third time.
Paint from her car was found on his vehicle, and vice-versa, according to testimony.
Hayden told Montano that after the third collision near the bridge “they went their separate ways,” and that he left before she did.
Montano said he asked Hayden what his intentions were the night he was ramming her car. “He said he was very angry. He said his intentions (on the ramming) were to hurt her,” Montano said.
“He said ‘I didn’t mean to hurt her,” Montano said. “Then he said, ‘I mean her feelings’.”
Montano said Hayden had sent her threatening text messages, which were retrieved from Verizon.
The recording of the 911 call was played again. Although she at one point said she was not sure how she got in the trunk, Saiz-Chavez could heard saying somebody put her in the trunk, and at another point, “I knew he was going to do this to me.”
Deschamps questioned Montano as to whether Saiz-Chavez specifically said “Jack locked me in the trunk.”
Montano said no.
In closing arguments, Wellborn said there was more than enough evidence to find probable cause. “The phone call speaks for itself,” Wellborn said. “’Somebody locked me in my trunk. I was going home. He was chasing me and wouldn’t let me come home.’ She identified Jack by name.”
Deschamps closed with the argument that Saiz-Chavez entered the trunk under “her own volition. So he would think she was not there anymore.”
He then requested bail be reduced to $100,000, which Naranjo denied.
“I’m left with doubts, but today is about probable cause. I believe there is probable cause to bind the case over on all three counts,” Naranjo said.
At the close of the hearing, members of the victim’s family broke into tears.
Hayden will now go to trial on one open count of murder, one count of kidnapping, and one count of aggravated battery against a household member.

Picture: A cross and flowers mark the location where Theresa Saiz-Chavez's Dodge Neon was discovered under the bridge at the end of Chaparral Drive.

Photo by John Larson

Murder Suspect Bound Over To District Court