By Wheeler Cowperthwaite
Special to the SUN

Prosecutors are asking a judge to hold a Santa Cruz man, a convicted murderer, without bail pending trial after he allegedly violated a protection order filed by his soon-to-be ex-wife, threatening her with a gun, having his mother contact her and trying to contact her through CashApp.

New Mexico State Police Officer Noberto Medrano-Tapia sought an arrest warrant on Feb. 5 for Javier Alonso, 46, on charges of aggravated assault, felon in possession of a firearm, violation of a protection order and harassment and arrested him six days later on Feb. 11.

Prosecutor Kent Wahlquist wrote in his motion to have Alonso held without bail, filed Feb. 12, that he was convicted of second degree murder. Court dockets show he pleaded guilty to second degree murder in 2004 for an incident in Roswell and received the maximum sentence, 15 years, followed by two years of probation.

His ex-wife told State Police officers that he killed a man while in prison, Medrano-Tapia wrote.

While he is not on probation with the New Mexico justice system, he is being supervised following his release in a federal case where he pleaded guilty to “violent crimes in aid of racketeering (murder)” and received a sentence of four years and three months starting on Sept. 30, 2022, followed by supervised release for five years.

At the time of his arrest in the federal case in late 2015, the United States Attorney’s Office in New Mexico wrote in a press release that he was one of 25 alleged gang members charged in connection with four killings under an initiative to prosecute the “worst of the worst,” who are members of the Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico, a New Mexican prison gang. The charge he pleaded guilty to was for his involvement in the killing of a person in 2007, “in aid of the Gang’s racketeering affairs,” according to 2015 the press release.

The Case

The victim went to the State Police office with a USB drive with video evidence. She told Medrano-Tapia she tried to give it to an attorney with Legal Aid in early 2025, but they told her not to present it. She then filed for divorce in October 2025. According to court records, the divorce proceedings are pending.

“She stated she left Alonso in October 2025 after he kicked in the front door of her residence, for which he was arrested,” Medrano-Tapia wrote. “(She) advised that after Alonso was released from jail, he threatened her to drop the charges, and out of fear she complied.”

She told Medrano-Tapia that Alonso repeatedly violated the no contact order, including contacting her via email, CashApp, trying to get her number through her landlord, calling her children’s phones and having his mother go to her house, he wrote.

She then described an incident she recorded where he brandished a gun inside a car, cocked it, placed it to her head and threatened to kill her. Police cruisers were nearby so he threatened to kill her before she could reach safety, he wrote.

“(She) further described another recorded incident in which Alonso brandished a large knife or machete inside the residence and threatened to stab her,” he wrote. “(She) stated Alonso attempted to destroy her phone after realizing she had recorded him.”

In another incident in a Walmart parking lot, Alonso allegedly punched out a vehicle windshield and restrained her while she tried to call for police. Bystanders intervened, he wrote.

The videos she provided showed Alonso holding a gun and threatening the woman.

A hearing on the motion to have him held without bail pending trial is set for March 24.