Posted on 03/16/2004 9:58:28 AM PST by chance33_98
Murder Suspect Vowed to Fix His Life After surviving castration try, Los Alamos man turned contrite; now police eye him in Española death
By DOUG MATTSON | The New Mexican
Donald Hamilton
Jorge Serrano Two years ago, Donald James Hamilton found himself in the middle of a bizarre crime scene. Four people beat the Los Alamos man, grabbed him by the testicles and tried to castrate him.
All four were convicted, but a contrite Hamilton told a judge he needed to turn his own life around. The trauma, he said, had scared him into sobriety.
How scared isn't clear, but Hamilton and two other men are now behind bars, accused of murder in last week's beating and stabbing death of a man near Española.
The arrest didn't surprise Hamilton's estranged father, Donald Ray Hamilton, who had just learned of his son's latest troubles Monday. Drugs have long consumed his son and put him with bad company, he said.
"I've been waiting for a call for something like this -- this, or he had been killed. I've been waiting," he said by phone from his Albuquerque home.
While father and son are at odds and even have restraining orders against each other, the elder Hamilton doesn't believe his son is guilty of murder. "I know he's a pretty rotten son-of-a-gun, but I don't think so. I really don't, but I'm just sick and tired. He's a liar and a cheat and a thief," he said.
Donald James Hamilton, 27; Jorge Serrano, 19, of Española; and Juan Ignacio Sanchez, 22, of Ojo Sarco are each in the Santa Fe County Detention Center on charges of murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, aggravated battery and aggravated assault.
The three are accused in the killing of Jonathan Dick, whose body was found by police Friday night in an arroyo near County Road 0456 in the village of Chili, north of Española. State police believe Dick was taken to the arroyo, beaten and stabbed.
Serrano was arrested Saturday at an Española-area home as state police executed a search warrant there, Lt. Jimmy Glascock said. Sanchez was arrested Monday morning at the Española police station soon after officers interviewed him.
Hamilton's arrest occurred while he was already in custody for his Thursday night arrest on suspicion of breaking and entering, Glascock said. After that arrest, according to Glascock, Hamilton said he had witnessed a homicide, leading police to Dick's body. "He was the suspect who provided that information," Glascock said.
Police had reported Sunday that five people were arrested, but on Monday, Glascock clarified that at least five people had been interviewed, and the case remains under investigation. Glascock said police are still investigating the time and cause of Dick's death, but it appeared he was beaten and stabbed. Glascock also said police believe drugs were a factor.
Drugs and alcohol helped lead to Donald James Hamilton's downfall, his father said. The elder Hamilton, a 47-year-old janitorial-business owner, said he once found a drug pipe and pills in his son's car after he had invited his son to work for him. He also said his son stole $5,000 in tools and other items from him, which landed the younger Hamilton on probation in Bernalillo County.
Father and son initially saw the attempted-castration case, which drew heavy media attention, as a turning point, Donald Ray Hamilton said. The attack was painted as retaliation for the younger Hamilton's alleged burglary of one attacker's residence. Donald Ray Hamilton, who was a character witness against his son in one of the attacker's cases, said his son survived the attack wanting to change his life, but that determination subsided when addiction again took hold.
"It's all about his buddies and his drugs -- I mean, he's my son, and I love him, but right's right and wrong's wrong," he said. "Nobody deserved to be beaten like he was, but then again, he brought it on himself."
The elder Hamilton said he learned his son's fellow murder suspects might have tried to scare him into not talking to police by forcing him to show them the residence of his ex-wife and children -- the implication being that the family would be harmed if the younger Hamilton talked.
The younger Hamilton, a divorcé with four children, had talked his ex-wife into putting a stereo in her car. He left her Los Alamos apartment with the car and was later seen returning Thursday with two men in the vehicle, the elder Hamilton said.
"So, in agreement, he went to show them where they lived just so he wouldn't go to the authorities," Donald Ray Hamilton said.
The elder Hamilton said he didn't know the homicide victim.
Glascock said he hadn't learned Dick's age and city of residence nor the sites of the search-warrant execution and Donald James Hamilton's burglary arrest.
On Monday night, a man at a Los Alamos phone listing who identified himself as Dick's father declined comment.
New Mexican reporter Geoff Grammer contributed to this report.
Retribution for the castration attempt...?
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