.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

Police say a man called 911 Wednesday morning to report his girlfriend had stopped breathing and later confessed to beating and strangling her to death at a northeast Albuquerque apartment.

Albuquerque police spokesman Simon Drobik said Francisco Montoya, 39, admitted to detectives that he killed Nicole Robbins at the Alta Vista Apartments, at 4200 Spanish Bit NE.

He said Montoya is charged with an open count of murder and tampering with evidence.

Drobik said officers responded to the apartments around 8:30 a.m. after Montoya called police to report that Robbins was not breathing.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip

................................................................

He said rescue crews pronounced Robbins dead at the scene and officers noticed “trauma” on her face and neck.

“Detectives arrived on scene and spoke to neighbors and Mr. Montoya,” he said. “Mr. Montoya confessed strangling and beating Nicole Robbins to death.”

A resident at the complex said he heard screams coming from an apartment south of him around 10:30 the night before.

“Just two, just screams like ‘Oh my god,’ that kind of thing,” said Victor Sargeant. “I was watching something on TV and it was loud enough to get me to go outdoors.”

He said he didn’t see anything when he went outside and got no response when he yelled into the darkness asking if anyone needed help.

Sargeant said the next morning a neighbor told him a young woman living nearby had been killed.