A Mancos man remains in the Montezuma County Detention Center after he was arrested Sunday on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder after he allegedly jumped on a woman’s car on Main Street and attempted to stab her through the windshield with a machete.
According to a report from the Mancos Marshal’s Office, Mark Tena-Ruiz, 27, was on foot Sunday night near Fenceline Cider when he was arrested after matching a description of the suspect, who was wearing a dark hoodie.
Andrea Keith, 31, told Deputy Marshal Michael Morris that Tena-Ruiz used a machete to bash the window of her Hyundai in an attempt to stab her with the weapon, which Morris had found in Tena-Ruiz’s duffel bag near Alpacka Raft, 192 S. Main St.
The machete was 17.5 inches long and 3.2 inches wide at its widest point. Morris said the size of the blade matched two slits in the center of an 8-inch area of the smashed windshield.
Keith was driving the Hyundai while searching for Tena-Ruiz. Tena-Ruiz’s former wife, Charilyn Thomas, 26, Christopher Gonzales, 23, and Alexander Kordes, 21, all of Mancos, were also in the Hyundai.
Keith initially told Morris she was searching for Tena-Ruiz alone because she wanted to protect Thomas. Tena-Ruiz and Thomas have a restraining order banning them from seeing each other.
The group suspected Tena-Ruiz had taken Thomas’ cellphone while visiting his children at Keith’s house.
Keith told Morris she had taken Thomas to her mother’s house so that Tena-Ruiz could visit his children.
According to Keith, the group found Tena-Ruiz between Fenceline Cider and Alpacka Raft, and when the car approached Tena-Ruiz, he challenged the men to get out of the car, then jumped on the hood and began punching the windshield. He then allegedly pulled out the machete and stabbed through the glass at Keith.
She said the blade came within 3 to 6 inches of her, but the weapon did not touch her.
Tena-Ruiz told Morris it was the occupants of the Hyundai who should be arrested for “trying to run him over.”
During the arrest, Morris discovered Tena-Ruiz was holding a bloody rag around his cut right hand.
A Montezuma County Sheriff’s deputy arrived to assist Morris, and medics began treating Tena-Ruiz. He also was treated at Southwest Memorial Hospital, then left in custody of Montezuma County Detention Center.
Tena-Ruiz, after initially telling deputies to speak to a lawyer about the incident, eventually told Morris he was visiting his children at Keith’s house. He said he did not know Keith, but he said his wife, Thomas, was there, and they began to argue.
He told the deputy he left the house after growing “tired of being around Charilyn” when he was approached on Main Street by the Hyundai, which he claimed turned around and tried “to run over him.”
Morris returned to the area where he arrested Tena-Ruiz and found a cellphone outside 141 S. Main St. with drops of blood around it.
Thomas confirmed it was her phone.
Morris also filed evidence from a surveillance camera at Alpacka Raft, which recorded the incident.
Tena-Ruiz is scheduled for an advisement hearing at 10 a.m. Jan 23 in Montezuma County Combined Courts, 865 N. Park St., in Cortez.
parmijo@the-journal.com
