Zachary Ryan Babitz admitted to robberies, carjackings and a fatal Santa Fe shooting under a deal calling for life in prison.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A man accused of killing 83-year-old Gordon Wilson during a Santa Fe carjacking has pleaded guilty in federal court to a string of armed robberies and carjackings across New Mexico, under an agreement calling for life in prison.

Zachary Ryan Babitz, 40, entered guilty pleas in a case that federal prosecutors said stretched from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and Las Cruces between July 30 and Aug. 10, 2024. The plea deal changed the path of a case that had carried the possible death penalty. Prosecutors agreed that life imprisonment was the proper sentence, ending the government’s pursuit of capital punishment while keeping the punishment at the highest nondeath sentence available in federal court.

The case began in federal filings as a broad account of violence across three counties, not only as a single killing in a store parking lot. Prosecutors said Babitz first walked into an AutoZone in Albuquerque on July 30, 2024, armed with a 9mm handgun, demanded money from an employee and left with about $345. A day later, he robbed a Wells Fargo bank in Albuquerque after handing over a demand note and indicating that he was armed. Authorities said he took about $3,300 from that bank. By Aug. 3, prosecutors said, he had moved to a Jersey Mike’s restaurant, where he robbed the business at gunpoint, took cash from a register and forced an employee to open a safe.

The most serious count came from Aug. 6, 2024, when authorities said Babitz confronted Wilson with a firearm in Santa Fe County and shot him during a carjacking. Santa Fe police said Wilson was killed in the parking lot of a Best Buy store at 3533 Zafarano Drive, a busy retail area where a violent attack in daylight drew immediate public concern. Police later said Babitz took Wilson’s vehicle and fled. Santa Fe Police Capt. Thomas Grundler said after Babitz was arrested that nothing could replace the loss of life, but he hoped Wilson’s family could take some comfort in knowing the accused killer had been caught and would answer for the crime.

Albuquerque police tied Babitz to the Wells Fargo robbery after Santa Fe police identified him as the suspect in Wilson’s killing. Detectives said they learned the suspect in the Santa Fe homicide might be heading toward Albuquerque and then received a tentative identification and the location of the stolen Jeep. Officers set a perimeter around the vehicle and kept watch. Albuquerque robbery detectives said the suspect’s description and a gold Chevrolet Tahoe registered to Babitz matched witness accounts from the July 31 bank robbery at 11199 Montgomery Blvd. NE. Investigators also said license plate reader information put the Tahoe near the bank when it was robbed, and GPS data showed Babitz was at the bank at 1:55 p.m.

The GPS evidence became one of the clearest links between the earlier bank robbery and the later killing. Albuquerque police said Babitz was on probation from an armed robbery conviction and was required to wear a GPS ankle monitor. They said he was wearing it when the Wells Fargo was robbed but cut it off before the Santa Fe homicide. Law enforcement officials later said he had been released from New Mexico prison in March 2024, after a 2019 sentence for robbery and receiving or transferring stolen motor vehicles. The New Mexico Department of Corrections said he had been sentenced to 23 years, with all but 10 years suspended, and received credit and good-time reductions before release to parole and probation.

After Wilson’s death, prosecutors said, the conduct continued. Federal court documents said Babitz carried out another carjacking in Bernalillo County on Aug. 9. The next day in Las Cruces, authorities said, he and an accomplice robbed an Arby’s restaurant at gunpoint and stole cash. Later that same day, prosecutors said, they took part in another armed carjacking, forcing a victim from a vehicle with firearms. Police in Las Cruces said Babitz was arrested after the Arby’s robbery and a carjacking attempt ended in a crash and foot chase. Authorities have not made clear in public records what happened to the woman described as his accomplice in the Las Cruces events.

The federal plea covered a long list of charges. Babitz admitted to counts including interference with commerce by robbery, bank robbery, carjacking resulting in death, using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence causing death, carjacking, firearm brandishing tied to crimes of violence, aiding and abetting counts and felon in possession of a firearm. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case with help from the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office, Santa Fe police, Albuquerque police and Las Cruces police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maria Elena Stiteler and Natasha Moghadam are prosecuting the case.

Wilson’s death also left a gap in New Mexico’s archaeology community. The Archaeological Conservancy said Wilson was its board chair and had spent two decades on its board, including service as chairman since 2007. Before turning much of his time to preservation work, he had a long finance career, including service as chief investment officer and president of Kemper-Murray Johnstone International in Chicago. Colleagues said he brought patience, financial judgment and a strong interest in site preservation to projects across the Four Corners region. Mark Michel, the Conservancy’s president emeritus, called Wilson “a gentle man, in the old sense of the word.”

The plea agreement does not erase the procedural steps still ahead. A federal judge must accept the plea and impose sentence, and the agreed sentence is life imprisonment. State charges that once formed part of the public case were overtaken by the federal prosecution after prosecutors moved the matter into U.S. District Court. As of May 10, 2026, Babitz stands convicted by plea, with formal sentencing as the next major court milestone.

Author note: Last updated May 10, 2026.