Woman Stabs Man With Wiccan Dagger

POSTED: 5:43 pm MDT March 23, 2010
UPDATED: 12:35 pm MDT March 24, 2010

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --
Police said a woman allegedly killed her lover with a Wiccan dagger near a hiking trail, then told others she'd been raped.

Albuquerque police were called out to the trail at the end of Copper Ave. just east of Tramway Blvd. around 5:45 p.m. Monday.

Police said someone told them a woman was getting assaulted along a bike path.

When police arrived at the location, they said they found the woman, and also the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The man died from trauma to his torso, police said.

Police accuse 30 year-old Angela Sanford, a self-proclaimed Wiccan, of stabbing her lover, Joel Leyba, to death. The couple met up on the trails Monday and started drinking, police said.

"She had decided she needed to go to the restroom," Albuquerque police cheif Ray Schultz said. "The male had asked if he could watch her go to the restroom."

"That's when police said Leyba then tied Sanford up with a rope, but Sanford was able to get the ropes free. Then, Schultz said, both Sanford and Leyba took their clothes off.

"While she was on top of him, she stabbed him multiple times," said Schultz.

Police said Sanford stabbed Leyba with a Wiccan dagger she always carries with her.

According to police, witnesses saw Sanford walking around later in her underwear. She told them she had been sexually assaulted. She told police a similar story in 1999, but never followed through to prosecute the alleged rape.

Police said they don't know if witchcraft had anything to do with the murder.

"This is a time of Wiccan holiday, being the solstice," said Schultz. "We're still investigating to determine if that had something to do with this particular homicide."

Sanford is being held on a $500,000 cash bond.

There was some confusion last night because police brought a man in for questioning, but Schultz said that man was a witness. Schultz said the man was scared because of what he saw, but has been released.

From: http://www.koat.com/news/22924684/detail.html