Ohkay Owingeh Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Second Degree Murder

ALBUQUERQUE – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, announced today that Fidel Archuleta was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Archuleta, 67, of Ohkay Owingeh, and an enrolled member of the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, pled guilty to second degree murder on June 5, 2023

According to court documents, on Dec. 11, 2022, Archuleta stabbed his wife to death in their home on Coral Lane in Ohkay Owingeh. When law enforcement arrived, they found that the security door had been pried open and the victim deceased on the floor. Archuleta was unconscious on a couch nearby with a knife in his hand and three shallow stab wounds to his upper body which were self-inflicted and not life threatening. Archuleta had a long-documented history of domestic violence and had been kicked out of the residence by his wife approximately one week before.

Upon his release from prison, Archuleta will be subject to 5 years of supervised release.

The Santa Fe Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Ohkay Owingeh Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Brittany DuChaussee is prosecuting the case.

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