Homicide detectives learned last week that a homeless man had died after being found beaten in September in Northwest Albuquerque.
Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said detectives were notified on Oct. 14 that 55-year-old David Kelhoyoma had died in the hospital from a brain bleed.
“An autopsy was conducted, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide,” he said.
Kelhoyoma had listed the Good Shepherd homeless shelter as his residence since 2009, according to court records.
In 2016, Kelhoyoma was featured in a Politico article about former Mayor Richard Berry’s program to hire panhandlers to clean up the city while offering them services.
Kelhoyoma told a Politico reporter he was a Marine veteran who had served in the Gulf War and “bad knees and a felony conviction” made it hard to find work.
According to the article, Kelhoyoma was one of 400 homeless people who had worked in the city’s program. He told Politico “being outside here, away from the city, it makes you human again … That’s what work does too” as he picked up stray trash at the city’s Cerro Colorado landfill.
Gallegos, the police spokesman, said officers responded around 2:15 a.m. Sept. 8 to a beating near the Freeway Liquors, at Second Street and Interstate 40.
He said Kelhoyoma was taken to the hospital and “his injury was not considered life-threatening at the time.”
“Homicide detectives are investigating the case,” Gallegos said.
