As previously reported, the Albuquerque Police Department arrested Lee Marco Cuellar on May 23, 2021. Initially details were sparse; however, The Albuquerque Journal has since reported that Cuellar not only killed his wife, 26-year-old Rosalejandra Cisneros-Cuellar, after believing that she was a demon, but also had recently been terminated from his position at Kennedy Middle School as an ROTC Instructor.

Monica Armenta, a spokeswoman for Albuquerque Public Schools, said Cuellar was a Reserve Officer Training Corps leadership teacher. She said the Human Resources Department gave him a letter of termination on Monday.

The Albuquerque Journal

Cuellar went on to tell investigators that he and his spouse went to get pizza on Saturday, May 22, 2021 and while out with his spouse he had a strange interaction with a transient male who was panhandling.

Cuellar told detectives that he and Cisneros-Cuellar had gone out for pizza near Old Town on Saturday. He said he saw a young man asking for money and offered him a few dollars. But his conversation with the man upset him. He said he felt like “something was leaving him,” “like his soul,” and that he was on the wrong path, according to the complaint.

The Albuquerque Journal

Following this incident Cuellar stated the couple argued when they arrived at their house and according to Cuellar both he and his spouse “took a pill for agitation” prior to sleeping in separate rooms. Cuellar stated the next morning the pair were involved in a physical altercation due to Cuellar’s belief that his spouse was a demon and sought to harm the family.

Cuellar stated to detectives following the incident he “felt nothing” after strangling his spouse.

“Lee stated Ally was going to hurt his family in ‘malicious, mean, and nasty ways,’ so Lee had to kill Ally,” the detective wrote in the complaint, adding that “Lee told me he felt nothing after he murdered Ally.”

The Albuquerque Journal

The Second Judicial District Attorney’s office is seeking to keep Cuellar in custody until his trial.