Police Uncover Tenant's Body Buried Under Apartment Deck
A 33-year-old landlord is charged with murder after police dogs located the remains of a 52-year-old man beneath the porch of a Northeast Albuquerque home.
By Harper Foster ·
Robert Debeary, 52, was shot in the head at least once before his landlord buried him under the deck of his apartment in August, according to a Metropolitan Court complaint.
Jonah Jeter, 33, faces an open count of murder, three counts of tampering with evidence, and aggravated burglary. Jeter has been in jail since October 21, when officers initially took him into custody for possessing a firearm as a serious violent felon. He does not yet have an attorney.
Investigators first learned of Debeary's disappearance on August 17, after a relative reported he had been missing for nearly a week. The family stated that Debeary had no prior knowledge of an eviction, despite being told by the Albuquerque Community Safety agency that he had been moved out. Relatives noted that Jeter had recently started cleaning out Debeary's room and had conflicting stories about the tenant's status. When family members confronted Jeter at the 200 block of Alcazar NE, he initially claimed Debeary was evicted for nonpayment, then later said he never was. They also found a reddish brown stain on the bed that they believed was blood.
Police records show Debeary was last seen the week of August 21. His phone stopped working around August 16. Detectives discovered blood in the bathroom and several phones submerged in water in the sink. Jeter told police he had not started an eviction and denied cleaning the apartment or moving furniture, statements that contradicted the family's account. On September 18, an anonymous caller told police she saw Jeter digging in the backyard, burying boards and other objects on the day Debeary was reported missing.
Jeter was arrested on October 21 after officers found multiple firearms in his vehicle, a violation of his 2018 felony conviction. On October 27, police returned to the property with corpse sniffing dogs. The canines alerted to human remains under the porch, where officers found Debeary's body and a bloodied mattress buried in the dirt.
Jeter was sentenced to five years in prison in 2014 for stabbing Oliver Yazzie to death at a truck stop when Jeter was 17. He was discharged from probation in 2020.
