Mom shoots daughter’s ex, then blames her 16-year-old son, NM officials say

A woman is going to prison after being convicted of fatally shooting her daughter’s ex-boyfriend, New Mexico prosecutors said.

Elizabeth Ortiz-Chavez was sentenced May 1 to 18 years in prison, the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in January in connection with the death of Josue Ruiz, prosecutors said.

“He was awesome. He was a clown, loved to laugh, loved his family, was raised with morals and ethics,” Jennifer Gutierrez, a family friend of the 16-year-old victim, told KRQE.

In March 2022, Ortiz-Chavez shot Ruiz outside a restaurant in downtown Albuquerque, according to the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors didn’t specify what led to the shooting.

Ortiz-Chavez blamed her son because she believed he’d receive a lesser sentence due to his age, the district attorney’s office said.

Her then-16-year-old son was charged with murder until investigators later learned Ortiz-Chavez fired the gun, officials told Law and Crime.

This story was originally published May 5, 2025 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Mom shoots daughter’s ex, then blames her 16-year-old son, NM officials say."