Another man was stabbed to death in Arizona last year, but the man who was charged with murder was freed because there wasn’t enough proof. He is now back in jail and is accused of killing another man.
Police in Phoenix say that Alexander Martin Reyes, 25, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Gabriel Trejo. Around 9 a.m. on July 31, police were called to the area of 17th Avenue and Spruce Street, where firemen found Trejo, 36, lying under a blanket with several stab wounds. The paramedics said he was dead. Following a review of the surveillance video, police arrested Reyes nearby. A unique tattoo on Reyes’s face is the letter NLB going down his right cheek. So far, the police say he refused to talk to them.
He was taken to the Maricopa County Jail and is now being held there on a $1 million bond.
It’s the second murder charge Reyes has had in just over 14 months.
In the other case, he is charged with killing 17-year-old Matthew Ballesteros by shooting him during a BBQ. Before midnight on May 13, 2023, Phoenix police were called to an apartment complex near 39th Avenue and McDowell Road for a shooting report. Ballesteros and Reyes were reportedly having a barbecue in the common area of the complex.
Fox station KSAZ got a probable cause arrest affidavit that said Ballesteros had gone to a nearby apartment around 8 p.m. during the barbecue to ask for a phone so he could call his mom to come get him.
According to the affidavit, the victim told the person living in that flat that the defendant was acting badly.
Around 11:30 p.m., he went back to the apartment to ask for the phone again and told the person there that Reyes had fired a gun at him. Sometime after Ballesteros left the flat, people heard gunshots and saw him on the ground with gunshot wounds.
Ballesteros was found by police with shooting wounds. First rescuers took him to the hospital right away, but on Mother’s Day the next day, doctors said he was dead. Police caught Reyes on May 17, 2023, for murder.
But the murder charges against Reyes were dropped.
The Maricopa County State Attorney’s Office said in a statement, “At the time, there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction based on the facts and circumstances.”
Ballesteros’ mother told KSAZ that the police sent her a letter saying they couldn’t go after the case because there wasn’t enough proof.
When she heard that Reyes had been charged with killing again, she was at work.
“I had to go.” She told the TV station, “I couldn’t breathe.” He should know that he hurt or killed someone when it shouldn’t have happened. It really shouldn’t have happened. It made the day I had to say goodbye to my son hurt even more.
The new murder case is something she wants to keep an eye on to make sure that both her family and Trejo’s family get justice.
She told the TV station, “I want them to know my face and know that I am Matthew’s mother and that Matthew was taken from me.” “From behind, you killed a man sleeping on the ground and a 17-year-old boy.” That is the most cowardly thing. This man was let go to hurt someone else in the same way. Now this is hurting not only me but also another family.
