Albuquerque, NM (KKOB) – A Taos man is sentenced to life in prison for the June 2019 killings of two members of the Taos Pueblo.
In a press release from the U.S Attorney’s Office for New Mexico, Joshua Gonzales, 39, a non-Native American, murdered John Doe 1 and his father, John Doe 2, both enrolled members of the Taos Pueblo, inside John Doe 1’s residence.
During the trial it was shown that Gonzales repeatedly bludgeoned both victims with a wooden table leg, causing massive head injuries and multiple skull fractures. After killing the men, he dragged their bodies, stacked them on top of one another inside the residence, and concealed them beneath rolled wire fencing. The victims were not discovered until two days later, after family members reported them missing.
Video footage showed John Doe 2 arriving at the residence shortly before the killings. Minutes later, surveillance captured John Doe 2’s pickup truck being driven erratically around the property before crashing into trees nearby, consistent with Gonzales’s attempted to flee from the scene. The truck was later found abandoned.
Investigators documented extensive blood evidence Inside and around the residence, as well as vehicle tracks, damaged fencing, and bone fragments. Cell phone records also showed that Gonzales’s used one of the victim’s phones the morning after the murders and began using a new phone shortly thereafter.
A family member testified that Gonzales was the last person seen with John Doe 1, possessed the spare key to the residence, attempted to fabricate an alibi, and later threatened to kill her to prevent her from speaking to authorities. Additional witnesses testified in the trial that Gonzales had admitted to the killings, describing in detail how he beat both victims and concealed their bodies.
Gonzales was convicted by a federal jury in June 2025 of two counts of second-degree murder following an eight-day trial, nearly six years after the murders.
There is no parole in the federal system.
