‘Disturbing’ Snapchat Videos Lead to Murder Suspect Being Held

Zachary Stieber
By Zachary Stieber
April 18, 2019US News
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‘Disturbing’ Snapchat Videos Lead to Murder Suspect Being Held
Jimmie Atkins, 23, was ordered held on April 17, 2019, on unrelated robbery charges in the murders of Ahmed Lateef, 14, and Collin Romero, 15, in Albuquerque, N.M., in December 2018. (MPD)

A New Mexico judge ordered a man held on robbery charges after watching Snapchat videos that she said implicate him in the murders of two boys last year.

“It’s probably one of the more disturbing things I’ve seen,” Judge Cindy Leos said during the detention hearing of Jimmie Atkins, 23, on April 17, reported the Albuquerque Journal.

Atkins is now suspected of being involved in the torture and murder of Ahmed Lateef, 14, and Collin Romero, 15, in December. The boys went missing in mid-December and were found dead later that month.

The content of the Snapchat videos wasn’t disclosed, but the mother of Collin, Amanda Kimbrel, previously said that a Snapchat video had circulated showing her son and Ahmed being beaten in Albuquerque, according to Crime Stoppers New Mexico.

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Collin Romero, 15, (L), and Ahmed Lateef, 14, went missing in December 2018 in New Mexico. They were found dead and evidence indicated they’d been tortured before being murdered. (Albuquerque Police Department)

“The video showed Collin and Ahmed bleeding with what appeared to be broken bones. Ahmed Lateef has a felony warrant and is a fugitive. Information suggest[s] that both Collin and Ahmed were involved in a drug deal that may have gone bad,” Crime Stoppers stated.

Stephen Goldman, 19, and Fabian Altamentero, 15, have also been named as suspects. Neither they nor Atkins have been charged as of yet.

Prosecutor Natalie Strub said prosecutors are still waiting for search warrants and gathering additional evidence before filing charges, according to the Journal.

Atkins’s attorney argued against his client being linked to the crimes.

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Anthony Aragon, 36, is the only suspect who has been charged in the case of two boys being tortured and murdered in December 2018. Aragon was charged with two counts of tampering with evidence; police believe he helped move the boys’ bodies. (Albuquerque Police Department)

“The state is using the robbery case in order to try to make the case on a homicide they haven’t yet charged,” said Ben Ortega, the attorney. “They’re trying to use this case to pigeonhole a detention hearing.”

Only one suspect has been charged in the case, reported KOB. Anthony Aragon, 36, was charged with two counts of tampering with evidence earlier this year.

Aragon has not been charged with the boys’ murders but he does have a violent history.

Aragon and his sister were arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, and criminal damage to property in September 2018, according to records obtained by the broadcaster. He was also arrested in Las Vegas for robbery on Dec. 29, 2018.

According to a detective working the case speaking during a March hearing arguing Goldman to be held, the boys were severely tortured before being killed.

“Multiple gunshot wounds throughout the bodies including gunshot wounds to the feet and legs that would have not been killing shots, it would have been for torture purposes,” Albuquerque Police Department detective Jessie Carter told the court, reported KOB.

She said that Goldman saw media coverage of the search parties getting close to the bodies and ordered two people to move them to another site.

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(Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)

Ahmed’s mother, meanwhile, said that she moved her family from Iraq to New Mexico in 2013 to try to give them a better life.

Yasmeen Aziz told KOAT that her son was doing well in school until the 2018-2019 school year, when he started getting into trouble with the law. In December, before he went missing, some teens went to her house, beat her son, and took his clothes. After that, she and her son got into an argument and he ran away. Days later, video footage of the boys surfaced on Snapchat.

She said she had to identify her son.

“His face, you can’t believe. Dark purple. No eyes,” she said.

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