Breakthrough in cold case: APD arrests suspect in 2014 murder

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Detectives with the Albuquerque Police Department have reportedly solved a cold case murder.

Police say 53-year-old Danette Webb was found at her home, bound with duct tape, in the summer of 2014.

At the time of her death, she was a volunteer with Noonday Ministries. Coworkers were concerned when she did not show up for work, and officers later found her body at her home in southwest Albuquerque.

“Detectives had few leads over the years, but they developed a lead this year that led to a suspect who also worked with Webb at Noonday in the past,” Gilbert Gallegos, APD spokesman, said in a release.

An APD detective and a FBI agent interviewed the suspect, 59-year-old Lance Beaton, this week. Then they executed a search warrant for his DNA.

Detectives learned Friday that the DNA sample for Beaton matched the DNA from the scene of the 2014 murder. Beaton was arrested Friday and charged with an open count of murder.