Paul Apodaca's Lapel-Camera Confession to Three Albuquerque Cold-Case Murders, 2021

Picked up by university police in July 2021, Paul Apodaca told an Albuquerque homicide detective he had committed three unsolved murders from more than 30 years earlier.

Subject

Paul Apodaca

Recorded

about 2021

Runtime

5:05

Content warning: A man describes murdering two young women and a 13-year-old girl, and says he followed one victim intending to rape her; the report refers to his rapes of other women and of a young family member.

The Interview

In July 2021 a security guard at the University of New Mexico found Paul Apodaca, then in his fifties, outside UNM Children's Hospital. According to later court reporting, he was injured and intoxicated, and he asked for police because he wanted to confess to three murders. UNM police arrested him on an outstanding warrant, and an Albuquerque Police Department homicide detective came to question him. Her lapel camera recorded the conversation. On camera she tells him she had come believing he had information about some homicides, "but I did not know that you were talking about yourself." In March 2022 KRQE News 13 reporter Gabrielle Burkhart broadcast excerpts of the footage in this report, the first of two parts. Apodaca's own voice is heard for about a minute in all, in short clips set between the reporter's narration and archive news footage.

Historical Context

Three Albuquerque killings went unsolved for more than 30 years. In June 1988, Althea Oakeley, a 21-year-old UNM student, was stabbed while walking home from a party near what was then TVI (now Central New Mexico Community College, CNM). On September 9, 1988, 13-year-old Stella Gonzales was shot near Tingley Beach while walking with a friend; she died two days later. On July 16, 1989, Kaitlyn Arquette, an 18-year-old UNM student, was shot while driving on Lomas Boulevard near Broadway. Kaitlyn's mother, the novelist Lois Duncan, author of "I Know What You Did Last Summer", wrote "Who Killed My Daughter?" about her search for answers, and the case became one of the best known in the city.

Circumstances of the Interview

According to the report, Apodaca had worked as a security aide at TVI in 1988, had been sentenced to 20 years in 1995 for raping a young family member, and was homeless at the time of the confession. KRQE says he was possibly suffering from heat stroke when UNM police picked him up. The detective read him his rights before questioning him. The same day, according to the report, homicide detectives took a DNA sample from him and began checking his account against the old case files and the crime scenes. APD called it a "miracle confession". Apodaca was later charged with the three murders. His lawyers asked the court to throw out the confession; in late 2023 District Judge Cindy Leos ruled that it could be used. In January 2024, under a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and, in the Oakeley case, to kidnapping and attempted criminal sexual penetration. Judge Leos sentenced him to 45 years in prison.

What the Interview Covers

In the excerpts Apodaca speaks of the pain he has caused the families, and says he murdered Kaitlyn. The report says he called Althea Oakeley's killing his first murder and learned of her death from the news that night; he says that afterwards "nothing else mattered" and he "just kept doing it again". Asked how he killed a girl whose name, the report says, he did not know at the time, he answers that he shot her. The report says he also confessed to raping other women. Asked why, he gives a partly inaudible answer about how women were treated. He ends by saying he has come to realize he does not deserve to be forgiven. The report also says he had read Lois Duncan's book about her daughter's murder.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The footage records an unprompted walk-in confession that, after more than three decades, led to the resolution of three cold-case killings in Albuquerque, including the Kaitlyn Arquette case made widely known by her mother's book. It shows the moment the detective realised the man in front of her was describing his own crimes.

Archival Importance

The confession was later tested in court, where a judge declined to suppress it, and Apodaca's guilty pleas in 2024 confirmed his responsibility in law. This report preserves an early public airing of footage of the confession, broadcast while the case was still pending.

Important Caveats

This is an edited news report, not the full lapel-camera recording; only short excerpts of Apodaca's words are included, and several are partly inaudible. What he says about his motives, his feelings and the details of each killing is his own account. The report was made before trial and calls him a "suspected" serial killer; he has since pleaded guilty and been sentenced. The detective is not named in the report. The narration and archive clips are KRQE's and are credited to it.

Anchor: More than 30 years after two young women and a teenage girl were murdered in Albuquerque, a middle-aged man comes forward to get something off his chest, admitting he was the killer. News 13 investigative reporter Gabrielle Burkhart obtained Paul Apodaca's chilling confession. A warning: the details he shares are disturbing.

Paul Apodaca: It's taken me so long to know how much [unclear: "the pain have caused" / "I've been because"] [inaudible] to this woman. [unclear: "perhaps didn't understand that"]

Narrator: This moment last July was the moment detectives and victims' families had been waiting for, for decades.

Paul Apodaca: After years and years of contemplating and [unclear: "researching" / "searching"] this, I understand all the pain that I've caused, and I [unclear: "feel it" / "my feeling"] for families, people that I've [unclear: "remembered"].

Narrator: Lapel video shows this Albuquerque police homicide detective didn't immediately realize she was interviewing a possible serial killer.

Detective: I came here with the understanding that you had information on some homicides, but I did not know that you were talking about yourself.

Narrator: Paul Apodaca, now in his 50s, had just been picked up by University of New Mexico police, homeless and possibly suffering from heat stroke. He wanted to talk to police.

Detective: I'm going to read you your constitutional rights.

Narrator: Apodaca goes on to confess to three unsolved murders.

Paul Apodaca: I murdered Kaitlyn [inaudible] ... a [unclear: "new girl"] who was crossing the bridge [unclear: "and" / "at"] Central...

Narrator: In June of 1988...

Police Officer: We need to know what happened from the time she left the fraternity house to the time we found her.

Narrator: 21-year-old UNM student Althea Oakeley was walking home from a party when she was attacked by a man with a knife near CNM, stabbed multiple times before her assailant ran off. Apodaca says he learned on the news later that night that Oakeley had died. He says that was his first murder.

Paul Apodaca: When she died, it seemed like nothing else mattered, and I just kept doing it again, because it was like I could not do any more harm.

Narrator: Apodaca worked as a security aide at TVI at the time, now CNM. He says he saw Oakeley walking and followed her with the intention of raping her.

Paul Apodaca: [unclear: "That's why I had no man"]

Narrator: Aside from a sketch and witness accounts of a man who took off, police didn't have much, and the case went cold. Then, in September of 1988...

News Reporter: She was found shot to death near Tingley Beach.

Narrator: On September 9th of 1988, while walking with a friend around one in the morning, 13-year-old Stella Gonzales was shot and killed. At the time of his confession, Apodaca described the killing but didn't know the victim's name.

Detective: What did she look like?

Paul Apodaca: [unclear: "I couldn't tell the thing"]

Detective: How did you kill her?

Paul Apodaca: I shot her.

Narrator: The following summer, July 16th, 1989, 18-year-old UNM student Kaitlyn Arquette was shot to death as she was driving home on Lomas near Broadway.

News Reporter: Kaitlyn Arquette apparently was the victim of a random traffic shooting.

Paul Apodaca: I saw her at Lomas and [unclear: "Brian"]. [unclear: "She continued to drive forward into her. She lost consciousness and he had to tell her from the point."]

Narrator: Arquette's murder was one of the most high-profile cold cases in the city over the years.

News Reporter: Albuquerque police say they have very few clues in this case.

Speaker: She wants to be a doctor.

Narrator: Arquette's mom, Lois Duncan, the author of "I Know What You Did Last Summer", also wrote the book "Who Killed My Daughter?", a book Apodaca says he read.

Detective: It's a lot of years to carry that around.

Paul Apodaca: It's a shame that it's taken so much to bring them to this point.

Narrator: Apodaca also confessed to raping other women. He was sentenced to 20 years in 1995 for raping a young family member. And since his release, he says he struggled to come forward about these crimes.

Detective: Why did you do it?

Detective: [unclear: "Yeah, why?" / "Why?"]

Paul Apodaca: Because [unclear: "I've always seen them" / "they've always seen them"] treat women bad, and they [unclear: "have a little woman"]. And I tried to be nice and, you know, I [unclear: "appreciate"] [inaudible]

Narrator: He says his actions, motivated by hate, were evil and dark, and referred to the word of God and his struggle to accept punishment.

Paul Apodaca: God [unclear: "is forgiven" / "is for you"]. I've come to realize that I don't deserve to be forgiven.

Narrator: Gabrielle Burkhart, KRQE Investigates.

Anchor: That same day, homicide detectives took a DNA sample from Apodaca, then researched old case files, returned to the crime scenes and worked to make sure Apodaca was telling the truth. Tomorrow night, Gabrielle Burkhart brings you part two of what APD is calling a miracle confession from a serial killer. ---