ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO — A New Mexico man has been convicted of first-degree murder after brutally killing a research scientist who had taken him into his home out of kindness.
38-year-old Daniel Hadders was found guilty by a Bernalillo County jury on Tuesday for the asphyxiation death of 46-year-old Christopher Fallen, a respected scientist from Cheyenne, Wyoming, who was found dead inside his Albuquerque residence on February 6, 2024.
Officials described the crime as “calculated and horrific,” saying Hadders suffocated Fallen with a plastic bag and a belt, then robbed him before fleeing in the victim’s car.
Scientist Found Bound and Suffocated in His Home
According to the Albuquerque Police Department, coworkers of Fallen became alarmed when he missed several work calls and went to check on him. When they arrived at his home on Lafayette Drive NE, they had to break down the door — and what they discovered was horrifying…