Oct. 13 — It was about 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 18 when homicide detective Jordan Moeneart’s phone rang. Miles away, in downtown Albuquerque, a car was riddled with a dozen bullet holes.

The body of 13-year-old Michael Tubb was still lying in the passenger seat. He wouldn’t see 14.

“I think it’s important to treat every case with equal importance…but it’s hard not to feel an emotional reaction to the murder of a 13-year-old child,” Moeneart told the Journal during a recent walk. “…If you hadn’t had an emotional reaction, I think it might have been time to move on and find a different career path.”

On Friday, a grand jury indicted Michael Flores, 21, on an open count of murder for Tubb’s death.

The path to finding Flores was unique, even for Moeneart, who has worked with the Albuquerque Police Department since 2018.

Unlike many cases, there was no obvious connection between Tubb — who was browsing and listening to music with friends, one of whom was shot in the leg — and a possible suspect or reason why. But through reviewing hundreds of hours of video from 75 traffic and surveillance cameras, he identified a suspicious vehicle: a Lexus sedan with no license plate.

Moeneart then searched police databases and Division of Motor Vehicles records to find the specific car, but came up empty-handed time and time again.

“Those searches really didn’t produce any obvious leads that we could follow up on or investigate further. And so I really started to believe that this vehicle was just a ghost. I felt like it wasn’t “didn’t exist,” Moeneart said. “We looked everywhere we could looking for this car, and it just wasn’t there.”

The detective then adopted a different tactic: scouring the Facebook marketplace “every day” for similar cars being sold. Weeks after a Crime Stoppers tip was released showing a grainy photo of the suspect vehicle, a car came up for sale that “matched all the details.”

“It was pretty exciting,” Moeneart said. “I tried to temper my expectations.”

The extensive search resulted in Flores’ Oct. 3 arrest at a Rio Rancho home after police said he was linked to the homicide through car and cellphone records. Police searched several locations the same day and found the Lexus, but not the gun used in the shooting.

As Moeneart sat in his car, watching Flores be placed in the back of a police cruiser and after speaking to Tubb’s family to let them know, he reflected on the effects, which reverberate throughout the directions.

“How devastating this is for the families in our community, and not necessarily just the victims,” he said. “The suspects we arrest and are charged with these homicides spend most of the rest of their lives behind bars. They are also separated from their families.

“And a lot of them are young kids who are indoctrinated into the culture of guns and drugs and things that we see in this city. And it’s devastating.”

Flores was initially charged with tampering with evidence in the case, and prosecutors filed a motion to hold him until trial, saying he “directly assisted in shooting and killing” Tubb.

“He then tampered with evidence by attempting to dispose of the Lexus when he learned it had been identified in a Crime Stoppers bulletin,” according to the motion. “…He cannot be counted on to respect the conditions of release set by the court. He has already demonstrated his willingness to deceive.”

However, court records show Wednesday that 2nd Judicial District Court Judge Joseph Montaño denied the motion and Flores was ordered to be released “subject to the availability of a GPS monitor” which will be placed on his ankle. He was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center on Thursday, less than 24 hours before the grand jury indicted him on murder charges.

“At this point, there appears to be much more to uncover and the investigation is ongoing,” Flores’ attorney, Rose Osborne, told the Journal.

It was about 3:30 a.m. Aug. 18 when officers heading to a car crash downtown received a report of a shooting a few blocks away at Fifth and Gold NW, according to a criminal complaint filed with the Metropolitan Court. Tubb was pronounced dead at the scene. His friend, a teenager, was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the leg.

Police said surveillance video captured the Lexus pulling up alongside the vehicle and “a muzzle flash and sparks” could be seen. Tubb’s friend told police he “didn’t know why the shooting happened and didn’t recognize the vehicle.”

On September 6, Crime Stoppers published a grainy photo of the Lexus asking for tips and offering a reward.

Detectives regularly monitored the Facebook marketplace, and on Sept. 23, a car appearing to be an “exact match” was listed for sale, according to the complaint. Police noticed that a car wash barcode sticker and chrome markings had been removed since the homicide, but a shadow remained of where the two had been.

Police said they used a secret Facebook account to ask the seller for the VIN number, which came back to Flores along with his phone number. Police searched cell phone records and discovered that Flores’ phone was in the area of ​​the homicide when it occurred and traced the same path seen by the Lexus on various cameras.

On September 26, the car was listed as “sold” on the market, and two days later it was listed for sale again by a woman who lives in a home in the 1100 block of Espanola NE, according to the complaint, which was the same area Flores was in before driving downtown on Aug. 17.