S1: E2 – The Father’s Day Murders, Part 2

All right, Ashley, you have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can be used against you and court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer now and have him or her.

It's October twenty twelve and twenty five year old Ashley Royball is in custody in New Mexico. She was charged with burglary and felonie larceny and waved her right to remain silent. Instead, Ashley told investigators that she had some information about the unsolved murders of Lloyd Dixie and Stephen Ortiz. The three were bludgeoned to death by pickaxe on Father's Day twenty eleven in the tiny town of l Rancho, New Mexico.

I'm actually the case agent on the jam side of the ERTs family now Nancho, Okay.

It had been sixteen months and there had been no arrest or even major leads.

In the case.

The victim's daughter, Shari, was the only person talked about in town as a potential suspect.

I understand that you know some details.

I no, I did it. Imagine how surprised detectives were when Ashley says she knows who killed Lloyd, Dixie and Stephen Ortiz.

So why are you telling us?

Because it's not right to see a good people.

I grew up with Stephen.

I'm to school with him, you know what I mean.

Yeah, detectives knew what she meant. Ashley Royball says she was close with all three and mentioned that when her own mother died, it was Lloyd and Dixie who helped pay for her funeral.

I wanted to come and I just couldn't.

So Ashley Roiball was finally ready to break her silence. I'm slung glass. And this is the conclusion of the Father's Day Murders on American Homicide. This podcast contained subject matter which may not be suitable for all audiences. Discretion is advised.

I've known Ashley since around two thousand and one.

Pastor John Trujillo first met Ashley roy Bay when she was in middle school.

She started coming to church as a little girl. Actually, and her sisters we absolutely loved. She was always at the church always. I don't think it was in a day that go by that her and her sisters were never at the church. They would come and clean, they would come and help us with the yard. They would help us with performances with dramas. They were always part of our church, or always part of our family.

The pastor also knew Ashley outside of the church.

She grew up with my sons because they were all the same age. She even went to problem with my oldest son, and it was strange because she.

Was always willing to help.

But as she got older, she became less and less involved in the church, to the point where she never came back again.

Only knew is what he heard. Then Ashley went down the proverbial wrong path.

I would hear bits and pieces that she was running with some of the wrong people, with the wrong crowds, drinking, drug use, you know, even to the point where she was even getting involved doing things a little bit criminal.

By the time Ashley turned twenty five, she racked up by a lengthy rap sheet, including three felonies. Following her arrest in twenty twelve, she decided to clear her conscience. She told the police she had first hand information about the twenty eleven triple murder in al Natcho.

So it was Father's Day time.

Though, Ashley said, back in the early morning hours Father's Day twenty eleven, Nick Ortiz needed Ashley to pick him up, but why did he call Ashley well, despite the fact that she was several years older than him. Nick was Ashley's ex boyfriend, so this gets a little confusing. Although Nick shared the same last name as Lloyd, Dixie and Stephen, they aren't related, but they did act like family and along with that, Nick was friends with Sharie or TI's

She would invite him to stay there spend the night. Sometimes he became, you know, good friends with Scheri, Jesse, you know, the kids, and he was part of our church.

Nick Ortiz also went to Pastor John's church.

Nicholas was there almost pretty consistently. And I always willing to help if we were doing something at church, what do you need me to do? Or he would go to the youth pastor and say, you know, what can I help out with this? Or what can I do here? And you know, constantly wanting to be part of what we were doing. You know, he showed himself to be a pleasant young man.

Let's get back to what happened in the early morning hours a Father's Day twenty eleven, when Nick called Ashley for a ride.

Do you remember how he sottled on the phone, panicked. He sounded like he was in trouble. Yeah, just come get me.

According to Ashley, Nick said he was near Stephen Ortiz's house, so Ashley drove there, but when she arrived, she knew something was wrong. Nick looked disheveled and he had a trash back in his shoes.

Now when you picked him up, and.

That's when he told me that he used to pick as.

He told me that he got Lloyd first, and then Stephen in the kitchen, then Dixie in the.

Virgin You heard that right, Ashley says. Nick admitted to killing Lloyd, Dixie and Stephen Ortiz.

Did he ever give an explanation why it happened?

Well, he told me his intentions are going to rob them, Ashley said. Nick knew Lloyd had cash and a marijuana grow at the house because he had spent so much time there. But instead of robbing them, Nick killed all three and then left without any money or drugs. And then, according to Ashley, he threatened her and told her she better keep quiet.

And we talked Nick a couple of times already, but if he decides to give it up, he starts naming a bunch of the names. We needn't know if you're going to come up.

I mean I didn't pick him up then, I.

That's all I did.

So, as you can imagine, the detectives wondered why Ashley finally decided to break her silence. They spent the next few days looking into Ashley's story, and when they reviewed Nick Ortiz's cell phone records from the night of the murders, something stood out, so they brought Ashley back for more questioning.

There's a lot more that you're not telling us. Okay, there's a lot more involvement from some different people, and that's what we need to clarify.

After coming Nick's cell phone records from that night, they learned a third person was involved. So who else was there that night? Sir Ashley said, This mysterious third person.

Was Jose, So why protect ho?

Sir Ashley said she was protecting Jose because he is her cousin. At the time of the murders, Jose Roibald was just fifteen years old, and omitting this information upset detectives.

I don't want to call it.

His attorney says, she gives a lot of information, but for some reason she withheld this from us.

We don't need that.

And that's when Ashley changed her story and admitted that her cousin Jose, was also there that night. Reporter Alex Tomlin covered this story.

So Ashley tells the police that they can cock this plan to go for and steal money in marijuana, and that Nicholas knows the house, he knows the family, he's going to be in and out right. She drops the two guys, Jose and Nick Off at the family's house. The way the story goes from there is Jose kind of backs out, doesn't what I put it, bet, but Nicholas decides to go ahead and go in. And he goes in, he commits the crimes, and he calls to

The police then questioned Jose Roibaal, and Jose said Ashley's story was not true. He claims it was Ashley who came up with the idea to go in and murder the or teases.

She supposedly gives them socks to cover their hands, trash bags to cover their feet.

Not only that, but Jose said, Ashley left out another key detail. She's the one who provided the murder weapon, her grandfather's pickaxe. All of it left investigators wondering who and what to believe.

There's things that kind of don't match ups or shifting stories, and then, of course there's always the element that again, she was facing her own criminal charges on other things. So with Ashley and Jose, the question always remains what part did they really play.

Although the cousins disagreed on some major details, they both told investigators that the murderer was Nick or Tease.

It also just seemed so oh random. It was almost like the answer everyone had been waiting for. That surely someone must have broken in for something and done this, But at the same time, it's been several years, nobody had heard anything. All of a sudden it comes forward that it's these teenagers, and not only is it teenagers.

Nick was living with your teases. But then just two weeks before the murders, Nick kind of falling out with them and Lloyd kicked Nick out. But we're things so bad that Nick returned to kill them.

The only thing that adds up to me is thinking about it in the mindset of a teenager, quick cash, some pot, It's gonna be easy, and it just you know, but yeah, I mean, like, as an adult sitting here, what everything about this is so ridiculous.

The detectives have to figure out who's telling the truth, Ashley or Jose Roibaal, and they figured the best way to do that was to question Nick Ortiz. Ashley Roiball is talking to New Mexico State Police. That's because the town of al Rancho, where the murder of Lloyd Dixie and Stephen Ortiz happened, doesn't have their own police force, so the state police had to get involved. According to Ashley, she said her ex boyfriend Nick Ortiz killed Lloyd Dixie

Ortis, your name has come up quite a bit, and we're talking in reference to the orts sound site, which happened a little over two years in twenty eleven.

And I know we had talked to you a few times about it.

So I'm hoping that you can run me by pretty much what happened.

So Nick agreed that he was with Jose Roi Ball the day before the murders.

Me and them were just been hanging out, just almost drinking a little bit getting high.

But Nick said he was back home with his parents by ten pm that night, and then what.

Did you do after ten? I watched a few movies.

I woke my dad up around twelve one in the morning and tell him Happy Father's Day.

After that, I went to sleep.

It's not easy to make out what Nick is saying, but he told investigators that after watching a few movies, he woke up his dad around twelve or one am to wish him a happy Father's Day, and then Nick said he went back to sleep.

But I have evidence that shows that you're lying to me.

I have phone records that prove that you were at a certain place after ten pm and it wasn't home. I've talked to Hossey recently, and I know that you guys were together after ten pm. I know he didn't drive you home at that time, and if he did, you guys left again.

Later earlier I was with him and actually I don't know, I know you were with them.

Yeah, because you want to know something that's really interesting, her phone.

Shows the same spot. Do you want to know where that place is at? At sirtez ssidence? Okay, you were there that night?

Uh, I'm gonna be honest with you, and this is this is really the only thing I could remember. We had a broken into the house and stole a gun.

You said, this is at Stevens house, right, yeah, i'd you guys get into the house.

There's a bathroom window that was opened into there, Okay, And I honest say, that's the only thing I could remember that that might have happened around.

There at that time.

So Nick admitted to breaking into the Ortiz's house and stealing a gun, but he didn't admit to the murders.

I know you guys did some stuff after that. We've talked to all these people, We've done so much work. It's been two years. These people have finally decided to say, I don't want to light to us anymore.

This is what happened.

So why are these people putting themselves at around the Orties residence and saying they were with you? Why would they throw themselves under the bus. This doesn't look good for you there.

I just I mean, I want this to be over as much as you guys. I I'm tired of having to look over my shoulder. I know you guys follow me.

I'm not done.

I see you guys, and I'm just I'm tired of it.

I just wanted to be over.

After ninety minutes of back and forth, investigators finally had Nick cornered, but they weren't expecting what he said next.

With all due respect to you guys and all that, I'd really like to just stop talking and.

Go on now, Nicholas, when he was in church, William never told us a whole lot about any of this.

John Druhio was the pastor at next church.

At one point Nicholas did. Nicholas came and says, it feels like something's unraveling or coming down the pipe and I just need some prayer. And I said, well, what's going on? What did you do? What happened? He says, well, I can't say anything right now, but can you at least can you just pray for me? And you could see that he was very troubled, so we prayed with him.

In small towns like El Rancho, everybody knew one another, and if someone was in trouble, it was public knowledge.

So at that point, I'm like, Okay, now it's time to make sense. Now I can understand that deep, deep, deep fear that Nicholas was dealing with, because all of this was starting to come ondone.

In February twenty fifteen, almost four years after the murder's police finally put a warn out for Nick or Tea's arrest. Shari and Jesse Aretiz, who earlier were thought to be suspects, were stunned.

They were in shock, almost disbelief. He stayed with him, know he was part of their family. It's part of the church family. We couldn't believe it. I was like the Nicholas that's helping out, the Nicholas that's here every night, the Nicholas.

Huh.

I never saw that coming at all.

Nick Ortiz was charged with three counts of first degree murder.

Some people were in such disbelief, they're wrong, he didn't do it. He didn't do it. Then you had those ever sayings. Finally they caught the killer. I knew it was him. I knew it was him.

With a small town divided, Nick Ortiz's trial kicked off in the summer of twenty sixteen.

My name is Dan Marlowe. I was hired by Nicholas Ortiz's mother and father to represent him on the charges of murder.

The trial was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, about twenty five miles from the murder scene.

I've done a lot of a lot of trials, try not to overreact to anything, to just be neutral and fair and even keeled. But you know, I have to say I was uncomfortable, you know, with the large contingent of people from l Rancho.

The l Rancho group was made up of friends and neighbors of the victims who wanted to see Nick Ortiz locked up for life.

I was concerned that there was going to be some kind of physical confrontation out in the front of the courthouse between the Ortiz family and the group from l Rancho. So there was some sparks there, definitely.

It took the police nearly four years to charge Nick Ortiz and his lawyer thought the case against him was weak.

The defendant in this case had a real tight relationship with the Ortiz family. He was almost like one of their children, and he loved both of them, both Dixie and Lloyd, and got along really well with him.

At the time of the murders, Nick Ortiz was just sixteen years old. A scroll through a social media account showed a teenager who took a lot of shirtless selfies and posted motivational quotes like your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow. But the thing that stood out the most in the courtroom was that Nick stood just five feet five inches tall. Was he capable of pick axing three people to death?

Wasn't the kind of person that would do something like this in my perception, and I believed that he did not do it. I believe that he may He may have had something to do with planning it or saying, yeah, let's go in and get this money, but he did not want anything to do with the physicality of killing these people.

At the trial, jurors heard from two witnesses testifying that they heard Nick admit to the murders, but one of those witnesses was incarcerated at the time of the trial. Son Robert also testified. He said he was friends with Nick Ortiz and that Nick joined the family on trips. They were generous to him. Nick even lived at their house for a few months while he was having problems at home, but things changed. Just two weeks before the murders, Lloyd caught Nick trying to steal from them and kicked

Both of those individuals were cousins, and Jose knew Nicholas. They were bros, so to speak, considered themselves to be gang members, although there was no gang that they were really associated with.

Ashley testified that the plan was to rob the Ortizes of money and marijuana, and that she was simply the getaway driver, but her cousin Jose disagreed. He said it was Ashley who came up with the idea of murdering the Orteases. Although their stories differed, they did agree on one thing.

Both he and Ashley said that Nicholas was the one that did it and Jose and Ashley's story did not match in any way during the planning, after the commission of the crime, all of that which showed me that there was some problems there. There was conflicts in the testimony.

Aside from their stories now matching up, the defense claimed both witnesses had some real credibility issues. Ashley was in her mid twenties and already had three prior felony convictions when she was facing new charges. That's when she decided to cooperate with the police and named Nick as the killer. The defense pointed out how prosecutors offered Ashley some leniency in exchange for testimony.

And she and Jose were real tight. They were first cousins. They had every reason to put the blame on Nicholas in order to get out of it, huge motive.

Jose Roibauld was just fifteen years old at the time of the murders, and in exchange for his testimony, he received immunity.

Of course, I'm a naturally suspicious person because I'm a defense lawyer, but these are the kind of things that I look at. It didn't set right with me.

The defense argued that there was no physical evidence linking Nick Ortez to the murders.

There was nothing. There was no DNA, no fingerprints, nothing.

Nick Ortees did not take the stand in his own defense, but his parents did. They testified that on the evening before Father's Day, they all had dinner together and then watched movies. Nick's father said he was in bed just after midnight went, Nick came into his bedroom to wish him a happy Father's Day. His mother had even more to say. She said she saw Nick sleeping on the couch when she returned home from work the next morning.

Basically, they saw him earlier that evening and then they didn't see him for a while. Then he was there the next morning.

But even though the intention was to help their son, they did him no favors. When they shared this, they said Nick never stayed at Shari's house. The only time he spent any extended period away from home was with a relative. The defense then shifted back to the murder victim's daughter, Cherie or Ties.

Cherie was always complaining about not having any money, always whining about it, and her conflict with Lloyd, and the fact that she needed money and was willing to do anything to get money. That's why I suspected that she was part of it, and I still do suspect that, and I probably always will.

The case went to the jury on the Thursday before Memorial Day. By the following Wednesday, a week later, the jury remained hopelessly deadlocked. Just eight of the twelve jurors voted to convict Nick, which resulted in a hung jury.

Which means a hung jury is a mistrial. Then you just retry the case again.

Six months would pass before Nick Ortiz is retrial. It took nearly four years for the police to charge Nick Ortiz with murdering Lloyd Dixie and Stephen Ortiz, and after a hungery in his first trial, he was retried just after Thanksgiving twenty sixteen. Prosecutors painted Nick as a cold blooded teenage killer, but the defense claimed that Nick had been set up and the real killer was Jose roy Ball. Dan Marlowe was Nick's lawyer.

I believe that Jose was hired to do this killing, and I think somebody else came in there and cleaned the scene up completely so that there was no prince, there was no DNA. It was just was not what you would think would happen in a scene like that.

Although roy Baal freely admitted that he was at the scene that night, he was never charged in the Orties's case and received immunity in exchange for his testimony against Nick.

He never spent a day in jail on this, not even an hour. He wasn't even a suspect.

So the defense lawyer told durs that Jose walked around free as a bird with blood on his hands.

There's no way around that, in my opinion. Who knows what a jury's going to do?

Nobody this time. The jury deliberated for two days and then returned with a verdict on the three counts of first degree murder. They found Nick or Tez guilty. Nick buried his head in his hands as his family members inside the courtroom burst into tears. Then things got ugly. Nick was handcuffed and ushered out of the courtroom. His mother shouted profanities at prosecutors and vowed to appeal. The prosecutors didn't say a word and just exited the courthouse.

It was highly, highly unusual.

Schari Ortiz quickly exited without speaking to reporters, and the judge never elaborated on what was the fundamental error in the jury instructions. He also ordered that Nick betried a third time. But then in twenty nineteen, two years later and eight years after the murders, the new Mexico State Supreme Court struck down the ruling and upheld mixed conviction. And here the decision came down to a technicality. Next legal team didn't file his appeal within the ten days

Bothered me a lot.

As for Nick's former girlfriend, Ashley Royball. She was charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence. As part of her plea deal with prosecutors, she'll serve no more than ten and a half years in prison. Meanwhile, Nick Ortiz faced up to ninety three years behind bars. His lawyer argued that Nick needed rehabilitation services like therapy at probation, not prison time. The judge disagreed and sentenced Nick to twenty five years

He is given twenty five years and in New Mexico he will earn good time.

TV reporter Alex Tomlin covered the story, so he.

Will not spend most likely those twenty five years in prison.

He will be out before that.

New Mexico's stayed law mandates Nick Ortiz to serve at least eighty five percent of his twenty five year sentence with good behavior. He could be eligible for paroles sometime around the year twenty thirty six, when Nick will be in his early forties.

New Mexico has some interesting sendency laws.

Seri Ortiz called the sentence a slap in the face to her family and the New Mexico justice system. She placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the judge, said she believes the New Mexico justice system is broken.

If you're part of the Ortiz family, it's never going to be oh, this is and her husband. It's always going to be, oh yeah, your parents were murdered. Oh yeah, your brother was pickaxe to dad. You know, it's always going to follow them, and it's gonna almost kind of be like a scarlet letter.

Today. Shari or Teas and her family still live on the property where her parents and brother were slaughtered.

And I hope for her she's found some peace and that that morning doesn't haunt her well.

Ashley Roibaal and Nick Ortis received time in prison. Jose Roibald got off scott free and listened to this. In twenty nineteen, sharior Tis told a local newspaper that Jose had even asked to collect a reward for helping to solve the murders.

It becomes almost every man for themselves, and that's kind of what happened in this case. Every man for themselves.

Pastor John Truvio continues to pray for Shari or Teas in the community.

They are a very loved family in our community, a church BACKSM, a community BACKSM. Shari's recently become a grandma that house with the healing process it does. But this will always be there. It will never ever go away. It's hard enough to lose a family member to death, but to lose three through murder, That's that's a tough one.

Yes, it is so, as you can imagine. The father Say Holiday continues to be a painful reminder now Rancho of the Grizzly murders of twenty eleven.

This will always stay in our hearts and then our mindset that on Father's Day, this horrific crime took place. But it didn't have to end this way. It didn't if it was a burglary that even went wrong, run. But to end the lives of three innocent people like this makes no sense at all. I've been passing this community for twenty years. We've never experienced or seen anything like this, and I pray we never ever do again.

Next time. On American Homicide, a young woman goes missing on the eve of her twenty first birthday. After her body turns up, the search for the killer leads detectives to one of the most unlikely places, a church. I'm Slung Glass. We'll be in Albuquerque, New Mexico. See you next week. You can contact the American Homicide team by emailing us at American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com.