A 50-year-old New Hartford man is accused of killing his new wife and the arrest warrant on the case has been released.
State troopers found the 48-year-old woman lying in her driveway on Richards Road in New Hartford just before 11:30 a.m. Saturday after a neighbor called 911, according to the warrant. She died at 12:26 p.m. at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital.
The neighbors who called 911 told police they drove down after street after hearing “horrible screaming” and five or six gunshots, then found the woman lying uncovered at the top of the driveway and called 911 to report what they saw.
State troopers who responded found the woman covered in a drop cloth and said she had been shot in the head. Police believe her husband covered her body before police arrived, according to the arrest warrant.
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State police set up a perimeter and tried to contact the husband, Efrain Vazquez. Neighbors said the two had recently married, according to the arrest warrant.
Efrain Vazquez came outside but went back in and closed the door when police went to speak with him, and did not respond to orders to come outside, according to the arrest warrant.
Police later took Efrain Vazquez into custody. The arrest warrant said he was on the ground, lethargic, and would not stand on his own. He was brought to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital.
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The office of the medical examiner determined that she died of a blunt impact injury of the head and her death has been ruled a homicide.
No one else was located in the home.
Inside the residence, police found signs of a disturbance in the back bedroom and blood on the walls of the bathroom, according to the arrest warrant. They found a gun safe open, a rifle near the safe and a revolver on a bench in the garage with what appeared to be blood on it.
Efrain Vazquez has been charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence, unlawful discharge of a firearm and criminal possession of a firearm.
Bond is set at $3 million and he has been ordered to surrender all firearms.
His next court date is Nov. 14.
