Albuquerque, N.M. To Pay $439,000 To Settle Lawsuit

The city of Albuquerque, N.M. will pay the widow of a murder victim $439,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that police could have arrested the killer before the 2008 crime.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that attorneys for the city still dispute that officers bungled an earlier murder investigation.

Katherine Pierce sued after her husband Scott was killed when serial killer Clifton Bloomfield targeted the house they had recently bought in June 2008. Pierce’s lawyers say police should have arrested Bloomfield earlier, preventing Scott Pierce’s death and the 2007 deaths of a Korean couple.

Deputy City attorney Kathryn Levy says officers did nothing wrong. The city settled to avoid the risk of a trial.

Bloomfield ultimately was sentenced to 195 years in prison for five murders.