NM judge, pets shot dead by her husband in suspected murder-suicide

A New Mexico municipal judge and her pets were killed in an apparent murder-suicide carried out by the judge’s husband just hours after a friend of the couple’s received ‘a troubling message.’ 

The bodies of Diane Albert, 65, and Eric Pinkerton, 63, were found in their home Friday, along with several dogs and a cat, authorities said. 

Officials with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office found the two while reporting to their home in the 800 block of Ranchitos Road for a welfare check. 

Jayme Fuller with the sheriff’s office said that law enforcement believes Pinkerton shot the animals and his wife before he took his own life.   

Diane Albert’s body was found alongside her husband and several dead animals inside their New Mexico home Friday

Law enforcement officials were spotted at the scene with several animal crate boxes

Fuller said a friend of the couple contacted the sheriff’s office just before 4pm ‘after receiving a troubling message’ from Pinkerton.

‘A friend of the decedents contacted deputies after receiving a troubling message from Eric Pinkerton,’ a post from the law enforcement agency read. 

In the message, the friend said, Pinkerton stated that he had shot his wife and dogs and was going to kill himself. 

‘He left a voice-mail to his friend stating that he murdered his wife and his dogs and his cat. And he is about to murder himself,’ a dispatch message said, according to KOAT. 

Albert was a municipal judge for the Village of Los Ranchos, which borders Albuquerque, and was a former planning and zoning commissioner for the North Valley community. 

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She also had served as a Los Alamos County commissioner and president of the Bike Coalition of New Mexico, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

Investigators arrived at the scene in the 800 block of Ranchitos Road in Bernalillo County

Inside, deputies found the bodies of Albert and Pinkerton, as well as several deceased animals

The New Mexico state auditor, Brian S. Colon, remembered his friend on a Facebook page Saturday.

Colon described the municipal judge as ‘a kindhearted soul who always uplifted me and others.’ He said she ‘always entered our home with a smile and usually wearing her bicycle helmet.’

The Los Ranchos Administrator, Ann Simon, also remembered her friend and called the woman a ‘brilliant mind.’

‘We are heartsick hearing the news of this senseless tragedy,’ Simon said. 

This is the post the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office shared after discovering the bodies of Albert and Pinkerton Friday

‘Diane Albert, our elected municipal judge, was a longtime Los Ranchos resident, a brilliant mind, and a friend. 

‘We can’t ignore that this happened on the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women,’ the administrator said. 

Joe Craig, a neighbor and former coworker, said the news of her death and the matter of the incident shocked him and others. 

‘Just a nice, nice lady,’ Craig said. ‘I’ve never seen her with a mean bone in her body.’

The matter remains under investigation by law enforcement.