Ralph Montoya, the man suspected of killing UNM English professor Hector Torres and his girlfriend, UNM graduate student Stefania Gray, is expected to plea guilty to second degree murder during a court proceeding Thursday, UNM English department officials said.
English professor Jesse Alemán said Torres’ family notified the English department of the court date and hopes the plea will bring some closure to the family and UNM community.
Torres, 54, and Gray, 43, were found shot to death in Torres’ home on March 8, 2010.
According to reports, Ralph Montoya, Gray’s ex-boyfriend, confessed to murdering the couple to his lawyer the next day.
Torres had been faculty in the UNM Department of English Language and Literature since 1986 and taught contemporary postmodern Chicana and Chicano studies. Gray taught ninth-grade English in Bernalillo and was a graduate student in comparative literature in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.
