Diego Leyva: Belen NM, Family Annihilator

Diego Leyva (New Mexico, Family Annihilator), a 16‑year‑old resident of Belen, New Mexico, stands accused of a chilling family annihilation that rattled local and national consciousness. On December 14, 2024, in the early hours, Leyva reportedly fatally shot his parents, Leonardo Leyva (42) and Adriana Bencomo (35) along with his brothers Adrian (17) and Alexander (14). His haunting confession came moments later in a phone call to 911, made around 3:30 a.m., in which he told the dispatcher, “I think something took control of me,” and uttered unsettling words like, “a bad spirit possessed me”.

That 911 call revealed not only a confession but evidence of extreme intoxication. When the Valencia County deputies arrived, they found Leyva stumbling outside, hands raised, “extremely intoxicated,” and surrendering without resistance. Inside the house, Leyva’s actions resulted in a quadruple homicide using a handgun found later on the kitchen table.

Diego Leyva’s case shocked the community of Belen. His former teacher, Vanessa LaGrange, expressed disbelief: “I would never have thought … that Diego would be capable of doing something like this”. Soon after the incident, investigations revealed that “a voice told him to kill his family”, a chilling indication of potential mental disturbance. At his first court appearance, he faced four counts of first-degree murder. Due to his age, he remains in juvenile custody at the Albuquerque Juvenile Justice Center, after initially being treated for detox.

“I think something took control of me. A voice told me to kill my family”
~ Diego Leyva

The case remains under investigation, and authorities continue to evaluate the triggers behind Leyva’s actions—ranging from intoxication to possible auditory hallucinations. The community mourns, still seeking answers to why Diego Leyva turned on his own family in such a brutal and inexplicable way.

Diego Leyva a teen with no prior public record, a student in a small New Mexico town became the focal point of a grim tragedy. On a single December morning, he allegedly killed his entire immediate family, then dialed 911 to confess while intoxicated and speaking of external possession. The community remains in shock, as mental health professionals and legal authorities work to unravel how teenage turmoil, substance use, and possible psychosis culminated in such brutality. Diego Leyva’s story is a grim reminder of how quickly normalcy can shatter, and how young minds might hide deep turmoil. At just 16, his actions forced a lifetime of consequences, and left a community grappling with grief and fear.

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