Man charged for Father’s Day decapitation in New Mexico park

A New Mexico man is charged with killing and decapitating a 51-year-old man at a local park Sunday — then kicking the severed head around, according to a report.

Joel Arciniega-Saenz, 25, was charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of James Garcia at a Las Cruces park, where cops found him near the murder scene with a bloody knife and dried blood on his clothes, Fox News reported.

Authorities said he later confessed to the grisly slaying, allegedly admitting he dragged the victim’s body into the street and kicked his severed head around, the network reported.

Arciniega-Saenz claimed Garcia had robbed him days earlier and had raped his wife several years ago — but cops found no proof.

He had been arrested on an unrelated vandalism charge as recently as last month but was released on $2,000 bail over prosecutors’ objections.

Benjamin Montoya
Joel Arciniega-Saenz was also charged in a fatal shooting of Benjamin Montoya (pictured), but that case was dropped.
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He was also charged in a fatal shooting in 2017, but that case was dropped after a key witness was found to own a gun of the same caliber as the murder weapon, Fox reported.

Krystal Montoya, the sister of Benjamin Montoya, the victim in the 2017 shooting, lashed out after Arciniega-Saenz’s new bust.

“I prayed he wouldn’t do it again and ruin someone else’s family,” his sister, Krystal Montoya, told the network. “I just was very angry because they let a monster out.”

“I don’t want this guy to be released again and go do something stupid and go hurt another family again,” she said. “No matter how much I hurt for my brother, I can say that I hurt for this person’s family. He needs to be put away, period.”

Arcienega-Saenz is being held at the Dona Ana County Detention Center without bail.

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