Ritual murder featured on national TV

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A mysterious Albuquerque murder that may have been a sacrifice is about to be featured on a national TV show.

But did the show stretch the truth in the murder of Joel Leyva?

The married father of three and pastor's son killed in the Albuquerque foothills by a self-proclaimed witch in 2010.

Investigation Discovery Channel will run a one hour reenactment next Monday April 30 at 8 p.m. MST.

Leyva and Angela Sanford met at the Downs Casino a few days before his murder. No one knows what the two talked about but the show tries to fill in the blanks.

“It's believed the conversation soon takes an unexpected turn when Angela tells Joel that she is a practicing Wiccan,” the shows announcer said.

When the two meet on a hiking path in the foothills three days later the show says Leyva had agreed to celebrate a Wiccan holiday with Sanford.

Sources say they do not believe Leyva ever knew that Angela Sanford was a Wiccan or anything about her religious beliefs when he went with her that day

The show says Leyva was a people person who simply wanted to meet Sanford for a hike, but sources say he was there to meet her for sex.

The national shows gives some background on Sanford explaining that she was raped after a night of drinking with men she met at a bus stop 10 years before the murder.

That is important information because once she and Leyva were in a remote spot she claims he attacked her.

“What she said is that he came up behind her and started making aggressive actions towards her,” Ibarra said. “What she said he did is he started fondling her, making her fondle him.”

Sanford told investigators she pretended to seduce Leyva and then s tabbed him in self-defense with a dagger.

But detectives never believed her story.

“She had every opportunity to leave the scene or scream out for help and she never took any of it,” Detective Kevin Morant said.

Sanford took a deal and entered a no contest plea to second degree murder this in court and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Investigators say Leyva probably never saw the attack coming and was stabbed more than 20 times.