Two teenage boys, one 13 and the other 15, have been charged with murder after the younger boy intentionally drove a stolen vehicle into a man as he was riding his bike to work last year, killing him, the police in Albuquerque said on Monday.
An 11-year-old who was also in the vehicle will be charged in connection with the crime, the police said in a statement, though he is too young to be charged with murder and his name was not disclosed.
The driver, Johnathan Overbay, was identified through a cellphone video that the boys posted on social media, the police said. The video, which one of the boys recorded from the back seat, showed Johnathan accelerating toward the cyclist, Scott Dwight Habermehl, 63, the police said. Mr. Habermehl was on his way to work at Sandia National Laboratories on May 29, 2024, when he was fatally struck around 4:40 a.m.
The 15-year-old, William Garcia, sat in the back seat and told Johnathan to slow down and “just bump him,” the video shows. As they drove, the 11-year-old, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, flashed a handgun to the camera and then ducked as they neared Mr. Habermehl.
The video, shared by the Albuquerque Police Department, does not show the moment the vehicle crashed into Mr. Habermehl, but the department said in a news release that “there were loud sounds, including metal flexing.” Mr. Habermehl was flung on top of the vehicle and then fell off the side.
Johnathan was arrested on Monday, and the police said they were still searching for William and the 11-year-old.
Johnathan and William are facing charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death, and unlawful possession of a handgun by a person.
The Bernalillo County district attorney’s office would not comment on the charges or clarify whether the boys would be tried as adults.
Maggie Shepard, the communication director for the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender, said it was too early for the office to provide comment.
Detectives did not initially know who was in the vehicle after it hit Mr. Habermehl in May. In February, the police received an anonymous tip that included the Instagram account that posted the video of the crash. Around the same time, a middle school principal also reported the video to the police after a student flagged the post.
Investigators searched phones belonging to Johnathan and the 11-year-old and found the footage of the crash, the police said. They said that their phones were seized in June 2024 during a separate investigation. The police did not disclose the nature of the other investigation.
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
