Ricky Abeyta was a 28-year-old construction worker residing in Chimayó, New Mexico. Known in his community as a skilled hunter, Abeyta lived with his girlfriend, Ignacita Sandoval, and her family in a mobile home. Their relationship was tumultuous, marked by domestic disputes. Days before the incident, Sandoval obtained a restraining order against Abeyta and planned to move out with her children and relatives.​

On January 26, 1991, Ricky Abeyta committed the deadliest mass murder in New Mexico's history, killing seven people in a shooting spree that began inside his home and extended to law enforcement officers responding to the scene.

Abeyta was armed with a 7mm magnum rifle and a .38-caliber handgun when he fatally shot his girlfriend, Ignacita R. Vasquez, in the head. He then killed her 19-year-old daughter, Maryellen Sandoval, and her daughter’s boyfriend, Macario Gonzales, age 19, by shooting him in the spine. Their six-month-old infant, Justin Gonzales, was also shot and killed with a bullet to the head. Another family member, Cheryl Rendon, 25, was fatally shot, and a 13-year-old relative, Eloy Sandoval, was seriously wounded with gunshot injuries to the chest and groin but survived.

Responding to the incident, New Mexico State Police officer Jerry Martinez arrived in his patrol car but was shot twice in the head while still seated in the vehicle. Abeyta then took Officer Martinez’s .357 Magnum service revolver. Officer Glen Huber arrived shortly after and was fatally shot in the head through the window of his patrol car.

Following the mass killing, Abeyta evaded immediate capture, prompting a large-scale manhunt involving approximately 60 law enforcement officers. He turned himself in the next evening, on January 27, 1991, around 10:00 p.m.

At trial, Abeyta claimed he acted in self-defense. Prosecutors charged him with multiple counts, including first- and second-degree murder, and sought the death penalty. In December 1991, a jury found him guilty of four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and one count of involuntary manslaughter. After 11 days of deliberations, the jury chose to impose a life sentence rather than capital punishment. Abeyta was sentenced to four life terms plus 36 additional years—the maximum penalty under the law. He remains incarcerated as of the most recent records available.