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Murder Suspect Released By Mistake

By KRWG News

Santa Fe – A McKinley County official says jail staff slipped up by releasing a man who faces a murder charge.

Toby Gonzales of Rio Arriba County was free for about three days after last weekend's release, but was taken back into custody Tuesday.

Acting McKinley County Manager Doug Decker says someone who represented himself as a person of authority had called the jail in Gallup to say that Gonzales should be released and that documents authorizing that action were on their way.

But Decker doesn't know who that person was and said the proper paperwork was never sent.

Prosecutors and the Rio Arriba County jail, which formerly housed Gonzales, say his release was never authorized.

Gonzales is accused in the 2010 slaying of Steven Duran of Chamita.

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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.