Armed Church Security Officer Found Murdered
Albuquerque M September 25 2022
A church security officer was murdered Friday night while patrolling a church parking lot, Albuquerque police reported today.
Security officer Daniel Bourne told his supervisor Friday night that there was a suspicious truck in the parking lot of Calvary Church, sending a photo of the vehicle.
When the 61-year-old stopped responding to text messages, his supervisor went to the parking lot of the Northeast Albuquerque church and found Bourne dead in an adjacent arroyo, having been apparently run over and dragged.
By Saturday evening, police had used the photo of the truck Bourne sent to his supervisor to arrest a 35-year-old man in the case.
Marc Ward has been charged with an open count of murder in the death of Bourne, a former commander with Bernalillo County Fire Rescue. Ward was arrested at his home near Wyoming and Alameda but asked for an attorney soon after detectives began questioning him.
Police said they found damage to Ward’s truck, including hair and skin wedged into a crack in the headlight. It is unclear if Ward has an attorney.
Calvary Church released a statement Saturday that it was “grieving the loss of a beloved member of our church family.” The church said Bourne was a Coast Guard veteran, retired BCFR commander and father of three.
“In his retirement, he had dedicated his life to protecting our church community,” the statement read. “The tragic events of Friday night … took him from us far too early.”
The church said weekend services will honor the memory of Bourne and focus “our services on the question of how we find hope and healing during life’s traumatic and painful surprises.”
Bernalillo County Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Robert Argüelles said Bourne had a “long and illustrious” career with the agency that began in 1988 as a firefighter. He said Bourne retired in 2008 as a Battalion Commander and after retirement was a member of Team Rubicon, a nonprofit that responds to disasters and humanitarian crises around the world.
“It is never easy to lose a member of our fire family and we are saddened by this sudden and tragic loss,” Argüelles said.
Online court records show Ward has a history of domestic violence-related charges.
Ward was charged in early August with violating a restraining order related to domestic violence and was pending trial in the case, according to court records.
He was sentenced to more than two years probation in 2020 after pleading guilty to beating his ex-wife as they went through a yearslong custody dispute of their two children.
In 2017, Ward was accused of groping a 12-year-old girl while working as an educational assistant at Eisenhower Middle School. The case ended in a mistrial.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court:
Albuquerque police responded around 10:50 p.m. Friday to the Calvary Church on Osuna NE, just west of Jefferson, after Bourne’s supervisor found him dead in an adjacent arroyo. Officers found a blood trail and tire tracks that ran perpendicular from the parking lot to the arroyo, where Bourne was found with “drag marks” and “significant” head trauma.
Police said there was a single 9mm bullet casing where the tire marks and blood trail began but Bourne’s gun and other items were missing.
Bourne’s supervisor told police Bourne sent him a picture of a suspicious truck in the parking lot around 9:15 p.m.
The supervisor said Bourne told him he was checking out the truck but stopped responding to text messages soon after. The supervisor told police he became worried and went to the parking lot and found Bourne.
Police used the photo Bourne sent to learn the truck was registered to Ward’s father and detectives went to the family’s home and saw it in the driveway. Multiple family members told police Ward had used his father’s truck to go out Friday night.
Ward’s mother told police her son came in at about 12:30 a.m. and she said hello but he did not respond and went to his room. Police searched the truck and found a dent in the driver’s door consistent with a “bullet being deflected” and hair and skin in a headlight crack along with other damage.
A police negotiator called Marc Ward, who had gone out for breakfast, and he returned home to be detained by police. Ward told police he ate dinner at Ojos Locos around 5 p.m. Friday night “before abruptly indicating he wished to have an attorney present at which time the interview was terminated.”
