Woman pleads guilty in slaying

21-year-old accidentally shot, killed cousin; faces up to six years in prison

A 21-year-old Santa Fe woman who accidentally shot and killed her cousin nearly a year ago pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Monday.

Desiree CdeBaca faces up to six years in prison in the death of Eugene Bustos, 26, but won’t be sentenced until after she testifies later this year at the trials of two men also charged in the case, said prosecutor David Foster. If she testifies truthfully, Foster agreed not to make a recommendation at her sentencing on how many of the six years the state believes she should serve, he said.

Foster also read a statement in court Monday about what happened the night Bustos was shot and said it represented the basic facts CdeBaca will testify to at the trials of Daniel Garcia, 26, and Amado Salcido, 19.

CdeBaca, Bustos, Salcido and Garcia were together Nov. 10 when they decided to go to a residence in the 2500 block of Rosina Street because Salcido said he wanted “to go shoot up the house,” Foster said.

Police said at the time that the group at the house — which allegedly included the father of CdeBaca’s child — had exchanged threats with CdeBaca and the others.

Bustos loaded the shotgun the foursome took to the house with them, Foster said. The four first got into a verbal confrontation with people at the house, which devolved into a physical fight, he said. Police reports say when three women began fighting with CdeBaca, she ran to the car and locked the doors.

The women beat on the car with baseball bats and broke the car’s windshield, police said. CdeBaca then picked up the shotgun, flicked off the safety and fired a round that hit her cousin in the chest and killed him, Foster said.

CdeBaca told police she fired the shot as a warning.

After loading Bustos into the car, CdeBaca and Garcia asked Salcido — who drove the car — to take Bustos to the hospital, Foster said. However, Salcido refused and instead ditched the shotgun near West Alameda Street and Camino Don Emilio, then dumped Bustos’ body in a rural area between N.M. 599 and West Alameda Street, Foster said.

Not long after, CdeBaca and others retrieved Bustos’ body and took him to St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, Foster said. CdeBaca agreed Monday that those were the basic facts in the case.

Bustos’ mother said after the shooting that her son and CdeBaca had been raised like brother and sister, and she believed the shooting was accidental.

Garcia is charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 9. Salcido is charged with two counts of tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. Lawyers are set to pick a jury in the Salcido case Nov. 6.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.