Officers walk Leland Hust from the Rio Rancho Police Station on Friday. He is charged in the killing of 6-year-old Ariana Romeo. (Matthew Reisen/Albuquerque Journal)
Almost two months after 6-year-old Ariana ?Jade? Romeo was found dead on a makeshift foam mattress, police arrested a young man suspected of raping and killing the little girl in the home where she and her mother were staying in Rio Rancho.
Leland Hust, 21, was booked into the Sandoval County Detention Center on Friday night. He is charged with child abuse resulting in death and aggravated criminal sexual penetration.
In a surprising development Friday night, Rio Rancho police said they also arrested the man who owned the house where Ariana was killed.
Rio Rancho police escort Winston Scates Sr., 63, out of the police station to a waiting patrol car after charging him with criminal sexual contact of a minor stemming from an investigation into the murder of 6-year-old Ariana Romeo. (Matthew Reisen/Albuquerque Journal)
Winston Scates Sr., 63, is charged with at least one count of criminal sexual contact involving a different minor.
Rio Rancho Police Chief Stewart Steele said the charges are the result of a ?very thorough investigation.?
?The men and women of the Rio Rancho Police Department have worked diligently since Aug. 11 with the goal of justice for Ariana,? he said. ?Our officers and detectives, many of whom have children of their own, have been profoundly impacted by the death of Ariana.?
The investigation began on Aug. 11, when Rio Rancho officers were called to the 200 block of Moonstone, near N.M. 528 and Northern NE, because Ariana?s mother had found her cold and unresponsive. She was dead, there was ?damage? to her genitals and the home was in ?total disarray,? according to a search warrant affidavit.
According to a police report, when officers arrived several people were standing outside the house, crying and very emotional. An officer who did a sweep through the house reported that most of the rooms were empty. He found Ariana lying on a foam mattress in the garage, which had been converted into a bedroom. There was a pornographic magazine next to the mattress.
?As I was exiting the room a male later identified as Leland Hust came out of a room across from the kitchen,? the officer wrote in the report. ?The room had a black blanket hanging in the doorway. Leland was told to wait outside the residence.?
After the initial trickle of information, Rio Rancho police did not answer questions about the case except to say that they were still investigating. Search warrants showed detectives were combing through the home for materials related to drug use and child pornography and that many different people, adults and juveniles, had been staying there.
The New Mexico State Police and the Albuquerque office of the FBI assisted with the investigation.
Friday night, Capt. Ron Vigil, a spokesman for Rio Rancho police, said it took detectives nearly two months to collect evidence against Hust, including DNA that linked him to Ariana?s death. He would not say whether Hust had confessed to the crime.
?DNA is one element of this investigation,? he said, adding that detectives also found evidence against Hust through interviews with people who were at the home when the girl was killed.
Vigil said that during the investigation detectives discovered that other children may have been sexually assaulted by Scates, the homeowner.
Ariana Romeo, 6 (Courtesy of Ramona Tanner)
?Unfortunately, we?ve identified other juvenile victims,? Vigil said. ?They are separate and distinct investigations. We have looked at not only older cases but new accusations.?
Vigil would not say how many other potential victims there were or give the ages or genders of those victims or say when or where the abuse occurred.
?I would say it?s at least two,? he said. ?This case is still an open investigation. Additional charges are always a possibility.?
Vigil would not say how Hust was related to Scates, Ariana?s mother, or anyone else at the home. However, according to police records, Hust was reported as a missing juvenile from the home in 2011 and returned there shortly afterward.
?We know that a number of individuals reside at that residence,? he said. ?We have taken steps to identify the relationships of those parties. Some may be blood relatives. Others are not.?
Vigil would not say where Hust and Scates were during the investigation but said they were not arrested at the home on Moonstone. He said there could be more suspects but detectives have arrested only the two men whose involvement they believe they could prove.
Neither Scates nor Hust has a criminal history in New Mexico, according to online court records.
But this is not the first time Scates has been accused of sexual contact of a minor. According to a police report filed in 2011, a female relative reported her 4-year-old daughter had said he inappropriately touched her.
The case was submitted to the 13th Judicial District Attorney?s Office for review, but charges were not filed.
Friends and relatives say Ariana and her mother, Stephanie, bounced around the southeast before moving across the country to New Mexico over a year ago.
The two eventually landed in Rio Rancho, where Ariana attended Ernest Stapleton Elementary School. She had just graduated kindergarten.
A close friend of the family, Angelea Torn, said she was thankful police finally made an arrest.
?Sadly, it doesn?t make it feel any better,? she said. ?Justice doesn?t bring her back.?