Albuquerque man receives life sentence for murder-for-hire

An Albuquerque man has been sentenced to life in prison for a murder-for-hire case from 2023. Freddy Granger, 43, pled guilty to the first-degree murder of 46-year-old Gary Escareno, who was shot to death on May 1, 2022. The incident took place at the intersection of Candelaria and Juan Tabo NE. According to police, Martin Trujillo, 57, hired Granger and Cassandra Dominguez, 39, to kill Escareno as revenge for an alleged robbery. Trujillo has been indicted for first-degree murder, but his trial set for May has been canceled, and the charges against him are still pending. Dominguez has also pled guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy, and faces 10 to 18 years in prison, with her sentencing date yet to be determined. On the night of the murder, police responded to a crash involving Escareno's car. They found him in the driver's seat with a gunshot wound. Witnesses reported hearing gunfire and seeing a man and a woman flee the scene. Investigators later discovered that Escareno had received messages from a woman asking for a ride. Escareno allegedly had a conflict with Trujillo over profits from a rental assistance scam. A witness told police that Trujillo paid Granger with methamphetamine, fentanyl, a vehicle, and cash for the murder. Granger has a criminal history, having been sentenced in 2023 to 25 years in prison for selling firearms to an undercover officer. Previously, he was sentenced to 10 years after a plea deal for stabbing a woman in 2015.