Everyone Knew
A family headed toward tragedy—while Santa Fe watched
By: Corey Pein 07/08/2009
She was 14, he was 18. They met at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center, where she was a camp counselor and he just hung around. It beat staying home.
Amanda Ewers and Marino K Leyba Jr., better known as Reno, dated for two years. Actually, they were infatuated. She was pretty, fair and impressionable; he was handsome and intense.
“His energy was in working for his dad, me and music. He was always trying to make music,” Ewers, now 19 and living in North Carolina, recalls.
But the relationship had bigger problems than their age difference. “He was one of those guys,” Ewers says. “I wasn’t allowed to wear anything but sweatpants and big T-shirts when I wasn’t with him.”
They broke up, Ewers says, after she learned Reno had slept with her best friend. According to a restraining order Ewers’ father filed on her behalf, Reno barraged Ewers with calls and text messages. Once she awoke to find handprints on her bedroom window. Twice he threatened suicide. The first time, she called his parents. The second time, she called police.
Two weeks after the breakup, in January 2006, their relationship flamed out where it began, at the Chavez Center.
Reno found Ewers there. He told her he’d obtained a .22-caliber handgun. If the cell phone was his first weapon, this was his second.
“I am not going to go to jail,” Reno said, according to the restraining order application. “If the police come after me I am going to blast at them. I will die before I go to jail.”
Ewers fled. Despite the no-contact order, Reno continued to call. “It was not a good breakup,” Ewers says.
An understatement, sure. But it could have been worse: Reno’s next serious relationship ended in blood on May 22, 2009.
That’s when police say Reno killed his girlfriend, Sarah Marie Lovato, her unborn child, Isaac, and her father, Bennie Ray Lovato, Sr. Police assume Reno shot the family with a gun he carried working for his father’s state-licensed security company.
Ewers was not surprised to learn Reno stood accused of such a horrific crime. Perhaps no one else should have been surprised, either. The story of Reno and Sarah is one of families destroying themselves while their community, looking on, does nothing.
Leyba family members refused to comment for this story, and SFR could not reach Sarah Lovato’s immediate family. SFR reconstructed their story using a stack of police reports, court records and other documents available to anyone who cares to look—which only underscores how much happened in the open.
Dozens of cops, lawyers, judges, social workers, teachers, friends and family knew Reno was a troubled kid from a home where terrifying things happened as predictably as birthdays. They knew, from experience, that abuse follows families like a shadow. They knew Reno had a gun.
Granted, hindsight is 20/20, but Reno’s threats to Amanda weren’t the first warning. The Lovatos’ murder was heralded by more red flags than the Beijing Olympics.
Carol Horwitz, the city’s domestic and sexual violence liaison, agrees.
“All the neighbors knew, family members knew, community members knew,” Horwitz says. “If neighbors had called and said, ‘I heard screaming and fighting,’ and law enforcement had intervened, and they’d done a lethality assessment: She was pregnant; he didn’t want her to be; she had broken up with him and he had access to weapons. If she’d gone to the shelter, she’d still be alive and have had the baby. There were lots of missed opportunities to intervene.”
Police say Marino Leyba Jr., aka “Reno,” murdered his pregnant girlfriend, Sarah Lovato, her unborn child and her father, Bennie Lovato Sr.
Which leads Horwitz to an inevitable, depressing conclusion: “Our community has not stood up against domestic violence yet,” she says. “It’s still acceptable. It’s still normal and natural and commonsense—that’s the way people treat each other.”
Santa Fe’s already endemic family violence problem appears to have surged with the economic downturn. “It was just one of the busiest years, from July to June, that we’ve got recorded,” Sherry Taylor, executive director of the Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families, says.
Seventeen days after the Lovatos’ murders, a pregnant woman was severely beaten. Across town the same day, a man threw boiling water over his ex. And late last month, investigators identified four corpses in a car dredged from Cochiti Lake as a father and sons, missing since 2001; police think he may have drowned them to spite their mother.
Detective Tony Trujillo, who is investigating the Lovatos’ murders, calls it a “textbook” domestic violence case. “Unfortunately, there wasn’t any police intervention [when] it could’ve been prevented,” Trujillo says. “It’s a pattern—a cycle, they call it…There is a history between mom and dad, also.”
Comments (20)
That's quite something. Liberte, do you still maintain that you "do not have a connection to the Leyba or Lovato family"?
That is increasingly hard to believe. Especially when you write the story "did not need to be told," that it was "biased" and that I "could have written the story from a different slant for a better story"—and when, after stressing the difference between allegation and fact, you float a rumor you heard to imply that Sarah Lovato's absent mother bore some responsibility for her death.
If you have some information you'd like me to look into, feel free to write at corey@sfeporter.com.
Skirt: I do think the community can do more. From the "stories" floating around others may have been aware of problems between Leyba and Lovato. (See Skirt, unless you are physically present in a situation you cannot define "rumors" as facts.) Facts consist of what one knows from first hand knowledge or from physical evidence (such as DNA). Everything else is conjecture. I have said, from the beginning, that Lovato had poor guidance from "home." I heard a "rumor" that when Leyba wanted to marry her her father turned him down. The rumor as to "why" stemmed from the fact the got a check from the government for "caring for" Sara until she turned 18. Fact? Fiction? Rumor - for sure. Where was her mother? Where were Lovato's caregivers? Why was she allowed into this relationship? I'm not trying to trash Lovato. I am making a point. Lovato's parents had a responsibility to their daughter. From everything I have heard and read - they failed to do their job. Does this justify her death? No. However, responsibility begins in the home. Where are the adults in the home? Why are the adults shirking their duty to their children, grandchildren, etc. al.? The public should report "facts." Families need to take more responsibility for themselves and their own. Unfortunately, too many people that have children are not ready to become "adults." Being an adult means more than turning 18 or 21 or 40 or 50. It involves a whole set of responsibilities. Many people, for mysterious reasons, want children but not the responsibility of being a parent. Lovato, from the stories, appears like a lost child looking for that ever elusive security. On the flip side, so was Leyba. This is more the story that should have been told. It would have had more of a legitimate impact and still could have addressed the issues that needed addressing.
Skirt: {1} You sound so self rightous and like such an innocent. Have you ever heard of "leaks" within a department. Some individuals (for money or maybe just spite) will give classified information to the public. Do not doubt this happening - it does. I can think of one person (specifically) who would have leaked the story of the minor Leyba child to the paper. {2} Perhaps you should take it upon yourself to read the Leyba files. Maybe the comments from the Judge (in the first allegation made by the minor female) might provide you with some "facts" that may make you understand WHY the court DID NOT file charges. One must take into account the evidence. A child will display certain signs of physical trauma if sexually assaulted. "Allegations" do not equal evidence. When investigating
"allegations" one must keep an open mind. {3} (Apparently you have not read the case files.) I took the time to investigate the FACTS. {4} In some cases those that are responsible for protecting our children drop the ball. This is far less common than it once was. As for "survivors" of child sexual assault - it is a FACT that many of those assualts were never reported by the child. The stories are generally revealed once that child becomes an adult. Some children make false allegations. (Research this fact.) Children who make false allegations generally have deep seated issues that need to be addressed by the proper authorities. {5} The law requires a great deal of objectivity. One must enter into an investigation with NO preconceived notions. One must weigh only the FACTS and base their final report on the FACTS. {6} IF (innocent until proven guilty in America) Marino K. Leyba is found guilty - he should pay for his crimes. I will stand by what I have said from the beginning. The SFR wrote strictly to inflame the public and sensationalism. This family appears to have many issues. I don't know of too many families that do not. It was wrong to demean the entire family. The story about the wife and her alleged rape did not need to be told. [sensationalism] {7} The SFR appears biased (not objective like responsible reporters should be). The writer could have written the story from a different slant for a better story. {8} This family obviously has issues. Many seem to stem from mental issues (from the mother's side anyway). So "Skirt" - if someone really wanted to shake your family tree - would everyone come out "lily white?" The only "perfect" person to walk this earth (to the best of my knowledge) was Jesus Christ. My point, "Skirt" is that every family has issues. The Leyba family will carry this burden through several generations. The SFR should have centered their article around Marino K. Leyba - NOT his entire family.
Liberte, if you know so much about the legal system with regards to child molestation, why don't you know that the majority of survivors of child sexual assault never have a prosecution result from their disclosure? Prosecution for criminal sexual contact of a minor (as it's called in NM) isn't prosecuted for a number of reasons - up to and including not wanting to re-traumatize the child. Of course the child can't drop charges, but there can be parents, guardians, social workers and therapists who intervene and say, it's not worth it, it's not worth putting this kid through that whole psychological nightmare if we're not sure we'll get a conviction. And it's notoriously difficult to get convictions, particularly if only one victim has disclosed.
As to your other claim, that this story centers on Marino Leyba's issues in his personal relationships, I could not disagree more. I think this story - both the one published in SFR and the collection of facts floating around in the public eye - is about what we as a community can and must do, if tragedies like this are to be stopped. Abusers kill their partners, they kill children, they kill families. Sometimes, as here, they do it literally, and sometimes metaphorically - everyone knows a broken family to whom this applies. And we, as a community, simply cannot stand by any longer. We must see what happens in our surroundings every day, and we must be moved to act in defense of those who can't defend themselves - by intervening, by exploring options, by calling the police, by doing *something*.
As the story says, we obtained court records and police reports through state open records laws, which presume that such information is public. If the records had legally been sealed, they wouldn't have been released.
To The Editor:
Something I forgot to mention in my earlier comments. You have said this story is a "matter of public record." ALL RECORDS involving a minor are supposed to be sealed. This is THE LAW. SO, who violated the law to give you this information? Someone in the police department should be investigating to find your "sources." No one can legally open the records of a minor EXCEPT a judge. So, you or someone on your staff did violate the law if you gained access to sealed records involving a minor child!
It is sad that both families got put on the spotlight. But sometimes old habits are hard to break and personalities are hard to change. You are the way you are. It is hard to break out of your shell and become someone totally new. But with the right help it may be possible. I was involved in a bad relationship with family history. I wished I would have known about it before I got involved. I would have done things differently or stayed away completely.
Another sad thing is that in the article it states that Reno's ex doesn't think she dodge a bullet. I feel she did. How sad that she can think that things were different. That he would not do that to her. All the red flags were starting to surface and lead in that direction when she was dating him. Her gut feeling obviously kicked in by breaking up with him and the restraining orders. I hope she realizes that she made a good decision. And that she gets the proper advice to stay away and never put up with any mistreatment.
I think alleged criminal conduct on this scale rises beyond "personal issues," and I think most people would agree.
To The Editor: Actually, I do not have a connection to the Leyba or Lovato family. (However, I do have friends of 25 years who have a daughter with mental illness. The new term is bipolar disorder. The family with whom I am friends would be devastated if their family history was printed in the paper. I know what they have dealt with.) Also, I have spent the last 30 +/- years in the law enforcement/legal community. I work with abuse victims. I think of all the families with whom I have dealt - then I look at the Leyba family and wonder how they feel. All of these years they have struggled, within the "privacy" of their home, with mental health issues, alcoholism and drug abuse. {Yes, there is a record of some of the events.} How many people - besides your reporter and I - took the time to do the research? I just cannot believe you do not see that airing their private lives is demeaning. Having spent the majority of my adult life in the law enforcement/legal community - I know certain facts. If a "minor child" accuses someone of abuse - sexual / mental / physical - it is the law throughout America that this accusation MUST be investigated THOROUGHLY. It cannot be swept under the rug. According to your article, accusations were made. Law enforcement investigated. NO CHARGES were filed. No one was ever CONVICTED of sexually/mentally/physically OR emotionally abusing the child. Your article implies the child was coerced into dropping the charges. A minor child cannot drop charges. A minor child is given a guardian who speaks for them. Your "story" did not come close to giving this information to the public. Do you know the steps involved when one investigates this type of allegation? If done properly, the research required (into the child and every member of their family) is massive. The child must be provided with a counselor. The child must be removed from the home. A "responsible" journalist would reveal ALL aspects of this to the reading public. As for the story being told "dispassionatly" - to quote the kids with whom I work "yeah - right." Had it been dispassionate - I would have never contacted you. Marino K. Leyba sits in jail accused of a crime. What, specifically, did you hope to accomplish by airing "personal" issues about his family? This is a serious question. Obviously, the issues exist. However, the "family" is not on trial. Actually, a potential juror could read your story and you have made an excellent case for Leyba to plead "insanity" or "diminished capacity." Was this your intention? Obviously, from the words in your story, the entire family is plagued with " mental and emotional issues."
Corey Pein: You are starting to sound a "little defensive." Did you actually obtain some of your alleged "facts" through surreptitious means? I can research - just as you claim you did. One does not have to be "connected" to "have connections." Did it ever occur to you that my "connections" are probably better than yours?