Two Murder Suspects Arrested

Albuquerque, NM - Thomas Stevenson and O’Shay Toney are accused of shooting and killing Marvin Ellis on May 31, 2015. Warrants for their arrest were issued on June 1, 2015. Detectives with the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) Homicide and Gang unit believed Stevenson and Toney fled the state of New Mexico shortly after the alleged murder and contacted the United States Marshals Service South West Investigative Fugitive Team (SWIFT) Task Force for assistance.

APD Detectives and SWIFT Investigators developed information that Stevenson was somewhere in New Orleans, Louisiana and enlisted the help of the U.S. Marshals Service Eastern District of Louisiana Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force to help identify where Stevenson was currently hiding. Deputies and Task Force Officers were able to identify an associate in New Orleans on Friday July 10, 2015 and successfully apprehended Stevenson. Stevenson was booked into the Kenner Police Department Jail and is currently pending extradition.

With Stevenson in jail, investigators turned their focus on Toney. APD Detectives and SWIFT Investigators believed Toney may have fled to Pennsylvania where he lived prior to coming to New Mexico. SWIFT Investigators requested assistance from the local Police Department in Altoona, Pennsylvania and the United States Marshals Service in Western Pennsylvania in attempting to locate Toney. Toney however had not returned to Pennsylvania. Then on Wednesday July 15, 2015 Investigators received information that Toney was possibly in Texas and again SWIFT Investigators Contacted the Lubbock Office of the United States Marshals Service North Texas Fugitive Task Force. Deputies and TFO’s were able to locate and apprehend Toney without incident and he was booked in the Lubbock County Detention Center pending extradition back to New Mexico.

United States Marshal Conrad E. Candelaria said “a theme repeated again and again, Deputy United States Marshals in partnership with local, county, state, and federal agencies banding together to pursue and arrest dangerous and violent criminals, regardless of where they might attempt to elude law enforcement. The versatility of the Task Forces that comprise the Marshals Service is effective and efficient because a universal banner of partnership and cooperation is the driving force towards the pursuit of wanted violent fugitives and as a result our many communities are safer; in these latest arrests of two dangerous fugitives, the District of New Mexico Marshals Service Task Force and its many law enforcement partners has proven once again the perseverance to pursue justice.”