Albuquerque, New Mexico: Noe Vega Sentenced to 32 Years for Killing Valerie Gabaldon in Revenge Shooting

An Albuquerque man will spend 32 years in state prison for shooting and killing a woman in northwest Albuquerque last year in what prosecutors called a drug deal revenge killing. Noe Vega was sentenced to 32 years in the New Mexico Corrections Department for the killing of Valerie Gabaldon, the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office announced on Friday, October 30.

A guilty plea in March, a sentence this week

Vega pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed robbery in March, a year after the deadly shooting, according to the district attorney's office. Because he entered a guilty plea, the case closed without a jury trial, and the sentence handed down this week is the final outcome of the prosecution.

The shooting happened on March 11, 2025, in northwest Albuquerque. Officers found a handgun on Vega, who matched the description of the suspect in the shooting at 120 57th St. NW, the district attorney's office said.

What Vega told detectives

Vega told detectives he shot Gabaldon and stole her cash because her boyfriend had stolen money and drugs from him, according to the district attorney's office. KKOB radio and KRQE News 13 reported the same account on Friday: police said Vega believed Gabaldon's boyfriend had taken money and drugs from him, and he shot Gabaldon and took her cash during the robbery in northwest Albuquerque.

Prosecutors described the killing in their announcement headline as a drug deal revenge killing. The district attorney's office carried the sentencing on its official news page on Friday, and the 32 year term was the sentence reported by both of the local outlets that covered the hearing.

The case is now closed

The sentence runs to more than three decades, as both KKOB and KRQE noted in their Friday headlines, and it will be served in a New Mexico state prison under the Corrections Department. With Friday's sentencing, the prosecution that began with the March 2025 shooting on 57th Street NW is complete. Vega admitted both the murder and the armed robbery when he pleaded guilty in March, and the court has now fixed his punishment at 32 years in the custody of the New Mexico Corrections Department. No further trial dates are pending in the case.