Deputies found the bodies of Eric Pinkerton, 63, and Diane Albert, 65, at their residence. Evidence of the scene suggested that Pinkerton took his own life. Along with shooting his wife and himself, several of the couple’s pets were also found dead in the home.
The husband left a troubling message before he turned the gun on himself, the sheriff’s office said. A friend of the couple contacted BCSO after receiving the odd message from Pinkerton, who then shot his wife and dogs before shooting himself.
Judge Diane Albert grew up on her family’s farm in Ohio, graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a PhD in Metallurgy, served as a Los Alamos County Commissioner, and obtained a law degree from the University of New Mexico.
Prior to her untimely death, Albert served as a municipal judge. She was a planning and zoning commissioner, as well as the president of the Bike Coalition of New Mexico. Because of her involvement, her death has left a large void in many spaces.
Many took to social media Saturday to mourn Albert’s death. Brian Colón posted a message on Facebook, and Joe Craig, president of Friends of Los Ranchos, said he was shocked by the news.
Craig and Albert worked together on the planning and zoning commission and saw each other in passing. Craig said he had heard the couple had issues but never saw anything that stuck out enough to indicate this kind of deadly incident.
The murder-suicide took place at the couple’s Los Ranchos residence. Los Ranchos Village Administrator Ann Simon said Albert would be greatly missed and had a brilliant mind. State Auditor Brian Colón said he was in shock over Albert’s death.
Albuquerque police responded to 207 domestic violence calls from Wednesday to Saturday, a 46% increase over the same three-day period last week.