[NM] Don't give up on justice for Tera Andrea Cordova Chavez. REAL police and her family are pushing for truth.

A homicide case involving an Albuquerque police officer [Levi Chavez] and his deceased wife [Tera Andrea Cordova Chavez] could be heard by a grand jury in January or February of 2011, according to Valencia County District Attorney Lemuel Martinez... Tera Chavez, was found dead in her Los Lunas home with a gunshot wound to the head in October of 2007. Her husband's police-issued gun was found by her side. Initially her death was ruled a suicide, and then changed to a homicide by Valencia County investigators...

PREVIOUS POSTS:

• [NM] NOT in any news search results: Shooting of cop's wife Tera Chavez - An Albuquerque Police Department officer was put on leave today after medical investigators determined his wife's death may not be a suicide after all. Tera Chavez was found dead next to her husband's department-issued handgun, a 9 mm Glock... Tera Chavez, 26, was found shot in the head. A small amount of marijuana was found with her...
• [NM] Wrongful death lawsuit filed for officer's wife, Tera Andrea Chavez - ...Multiple APD officers showed up at the Chavezes' home in Valencia County the evening of Oct. 21, 2007, after the Valencia department reported the death to the agency as a "courtesy," the lawsuit states. It alleges that the officers spent nearly three hours in the crime scene, during which time they flushed blood evidence, removed bloody bedding and pieces of the mattress that Tera Chavez was on when she died.
• [NM] (Wife-murder suspect APD Officer Levi Chavez has "taken the Fifth" in 285 of the 309 questions asked him?) - ...Her husband's police-issued 9-millimeter gun was next to her body... A lawsuit filed by the victim’s family states that officer Chavez changed his wife’s life insurance policy to include a pay-out clause for suicide which became active weeks before her death... Officer Chavez denies knowing anything about the stash [of marijuana] and you can guess who he threw under the bus... I am Tera's twin brother and I am following this story through the internet and family because I am currently deployed in Iraq. I have a few comments conserning this awful event..."
• [NM] Loving Detective Jones for sticking with the suspicious death of Tera Chavez - ...[Valencia County] Sheriff Rene Rivera said in writing that the case will not be actively investigated until new leads or tips come in... Until Monday, the Valencia County Sheriff's Department made the case the main priority for Detective Aaron Jones... Jones said, "I am livid because the people that made the decision have limited to no knowledge about the case. They ought to be ashamed of themselves." Also, a statement from the New Mexico Insurance Fraud Bureau on Monday stated that it "has an ongoing and active investigation into this case and is not at all influenced by the sheriff's decision"...
  

DA GETS EVIDENCE IN TERA CHAVEZ SHOOTING: Evidence Shows She Was Shot With Husband's APD Gun
koat.com
October 15, 2010
VALENCIA COUNTY, N.M. -- District Attorney Lemuel Martinez said his office recently received evidence from the Valencia County sheriff in a case where an officer’s wife was shot to death. In 2007, Tera Chavez died from a gunshot wound, and the weapon belonged to her husband Levi Chavez, deputies said. Levi Chavez was an Albuquerque Police Department officer at the time. Initially, the death was called a suicide, but later a deeper investigation changed the cause of death to undetermined and investigators named Levi Chavez a person of interest. Martinez said his staff is now going through the evidence, which could lead to an additional investigation. Officer Levi Chavez is on paid assignment working a desk job at the Albuquerque animal shelter. [LINK]

2 ONLINE COMMENTS:

...At the risk of starting something I just want to say whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? I think in our country we do the guilty until proven innocent thing, unless of course it's ourselves or somebody close to us.... just sayin'...

...To diannianne -Agree – but there is a slightly more comprehensive story about this on the KOB website, which details how he altered her life insurance policy only 17 days prior to her death, removing the suicide clause. Pretty remarkable coincidence, don't you think?...

GRAND JURY COULD SOON HEAR MURDER CASE LINKED TO COP
KOB, Eyewitness News 4
By: Jeremy Jojola
10/15/2010

A homicide case involving an Albuquerque police officer and his deceased wife could be heard by a grand jury in January or February of 2011, according to Valencia County District Attorney Lemuel Martinez.

Officer Levi Chavez, who's been removed from duty and put on administrative work detail at the city’s animal shelter, has been named a person of interest in the case.

His wife, Tera Chavez, was found dead in her Los Lunas home with a gunshot wound to the head in October of 2007. Her husband's police-issued gun was found by her side. Initially her death was ruled a suicide, and then changed to a homicide by Valencia County investigators.

Martinez says there are thousands of documents to be reviewed in the case. He says he also wants investigators to do more work, including retrieving cell phone location data from the case.

"But at this point we need some time. We got an attorney who's devoting a lot of time to it. But there's a lot documents. It's still a hot case in our office," Martinez told KOB Eyewitness News 4.

Attorney David Serna, who represents Levi Chavez, believes there is no case.

"Levi's got a number of nationally recognized experts who all are of the opinion that his wife committed suicide. I just don't see any indictments, period," Serna said.

A lawsuit filed by Tera Chavez's estate accuses her husband of committing the murder and getting a suicide clause written out in his wife's insurance policy 17 days before she was found dead.

The lawsuit, which is still pending, also accuses several Albuquerque police officers of contaminating the crime scene and destroying evidence.

Today, attorney Brad Hall, who represents the estate of Tera Chavez, sent Eyewitness News 4 a statement:

"The Estate of Tera Chavez appreciates the painstaking care that the criminal justice system has been taking with investigating this case, especially given the start the investigators had where key evidence was contaminated and lost at the crime scene after APD supervisors entered it. The Estate of Tera Chavez believes the criminal investigators and experts should take all the time they need to investigate the many unanswered questions in this complicated case before any indictments are handed down." [LINK]

PREVIOUS YOUTUBES

• [NM] Cop's wife Tera Chavez did not kill herSELF - 1
• [NM] Cop's wife Tera Chavez did not kill herSELF - 2
• [NM] Lawsuit filed in death of officer's wife Tera Chavez
• [NM] APD Officers in the death of officers wife, Tera Chavez
• [NM] Cop wife Tera Chevez death - husband person of interest
• [NM] Update on Officer Levi Chavez, a person of interest in his wife Tera's death
• [NM] Civil suit turns up heat on the murder of officer Levi Chavez's wife Tera
• Target 7 Investigates Death Of Tera Chavez
• Tera Chavez Investigation On Hold

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