15-Year-Old Nehemiah Griego Shoots Entire Family

Nehemiah Griego was 15-years old in 2013 when he shot his entire family in their South Valley (near Albuquerque,) New Mexico, home with two different guns. Griego murdered his father, 51-year-old Greg Griego; his mother, 40-year-old Sarah; 9-year-old Zephania; 5-year-old Jael; and 2-year-old Angelina. Nehemiah used a .22 rifle to shoot his mom and siblings. He used an AR semi-automatic rifle to shoot his father.

The Attack

Griego shot his mother first, using a .22 rifle. He then shot his youngest brother Zephania who woke up from the sounds of the gunfire. He then walked into the bedroom of his youngest sisters and shot them both as they laid crying in their beds.

Griego walked downstairs and waited for his father to return home from work at a homeless shelter. Around 5 a.m. the man opened the door and was shot multiple times with the AR-15-type semi-automatic rifle.

He texted a photo of his deceased mother to his girlfriend then spent most of the day with her. He planned to kill her, he would later tell detectives, and other people from a local Wal-Mart store. The girlfriend knew that he had killed his entire family. Police declined to press charges against her.

Later that evening, Griego drove to a church with the rifles in his van, telling the pastor that his family was dead. Griego’s father worked at the church until recently. The pastor and church member, a retired homicide detective who helped out around the church, drove Griego back to the home. Feeling that something was wrong, the men called 911 en route to the home.

Griego Taken Into Custody

Police arrested Griego and booked him into the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center, charging him with three counts of child abuse resulting in death and two counts of murder. Detectives read Griego his Miranda rights and interviewed him without an adult or a lawyer present, though he agreed to speak with them.

At first, Griego denied involvement with the murders. He told detectives that he came home and found his family dead after visiting with a friend. He changed his story several times, none of them making sense to detectives.

He then confessed.

The teen said he was angry at his mother and had been having suicidal and homicidal thoughts. The homicide was not random, Griego told investigators, insisting he had planned the attack for some time. He obtained the guns from his parent's closet. His intentions were to murder more people, including his girlfriend and random people at a local Wal-Mart store, and die by suicide by cop.

Griego Conviction & Sentencing

Griego initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. In October 2015, he changed his plea to guilty. Since he was a minor, the family court heard the case, sentencing him to a juvenile punishment. He spent 18-months in the facility before making the plea, agreeing to release from a youth detention facility at the age of 21.

The prosecution appealed and in 2019, he was sentenced as an adult to three life sentences in prison plus seven years to run consecutively with the life sentences. He must serve 30 years before he becomes eligible for parole.

Information & Resources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130123125007/http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2902776.shtml?cat=500

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341638987_Nehemiah_Griego_-_Killer_Child

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