Vicente E Montano was fatally shot on October 23, 2021, in Edgewood, New Mexico. The incident first became known when a woman later identified as Montano’s girlfriend, Destiny Sanchez, arrived at the Edgewood Police Department with a gunshot wound to her jaw and reported that her boyfriend had been killed.

Police located Montano’s body buried in a shallow grave on the property of Daniel Lee Kota. Kota turned himself in the next day and admitted shooting Montano multiple times, saying he acted after Montano had shot Kota’s girlfriend. Kota was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm; he had a prior arson conviction from 2007.

Sanchez survived but suffered severe injuries and faced a difficult recovery; friends and community members organized support and fundraising for her and her two children. Does anyone have additional information about the events in Edgewood that night or knew Montano or Sanchez?