Cops: Wiccan listed victim as 'sacrifice' in phone

[icymist]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A self-described Wiccan had a man's phone number programmed in her cell phone under the word "sacrifice" before she stabbed him to death, then claimed he had tried to rape her, authorities said Thursday.

Angela Sanford, 30, is accused of killing 52-year-old Joel Leyba last month with a dagger after inviting him to join her in a Wiccan celebration of spring near a popular hiking trail east of Albuquerque.

She told police she stabbed Leyba three times in the stomach after he tied her up and tried to assault her.

But police say Leyba was stabbed 11 to 13 times, and a detective reviewing Sanford's cell phone found the nickname "sacrifice" instead of Leyba's name.

"It makes us absolutely confident there was something more here than her claims of self-defense," said Patrick Davis, a spokesman for the Bernalillo County district attorney's office.
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