Suspect has first day in court

ALAMOSA — An Alamosa man had his first day in district court Wednesday for a murder that happened last year.

Phillip Medina, 36, faces charges related to the August 2018 murder of Mathias Fritz, 40. At a preliminary hearing in February, the judge found there was probable cause to forward the case to district court.

On Wednesday, District Judge Michael Gonzales ruled to continue the case to May 21. Medina currently is being held on $100,000 bond.

Charges against Medina include murder, aggravated robbery (based on complicity), conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery and accessory to a crime.

Medina is a co-defendant in the case with his half-brother, Robert Martinez. In addition, Shawndon McVey and Shem Brown have been charged with the same allegations.

In February, Alamosa County Deputy Coroner Jeri Chacon testified about the process she went through on the early morning of Aug. 9 at 175 1/2 Broadway Fritz’s body was found in a shower stall in an upstairs bathroom at that location.

The cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the head and blunt force trauma injury.

Medina and his three other co-defendants are charged with murder and numerous other charges in connection with Fritz’s murder and the assault and shooting of Fritz’s girlfriend, Alma Salazar, at Fritz’s apartment that night. Salazar survived the shooting.

Medina had had dinner with the couple the night before the assault and murder, and he may have assisted his brother in entering the apartment later or been present when the assaults and shootings occurred, according to testimony from the preliminary hearing.

Salazar identified one of the unmasked males as the person she and Fritz had dinner with, later identified as Medina.