Man charged with strangling girlfriend near West Side truck stop

Oct. 21—A man is accused of killing his girlfriend and calling it in as a possible overdose Friday night outside a West Side truck stop.

Julius Irving, 29, is charged with an open count of murder in the death. The Journal is not identifying the woman as it is unclear if her relatives have been notified.

Irving has been booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center, and it is unclear if he has an attorney.

Bernalillo County deputies responded around 10:15 p.m. to a “possible overdose” in the 500 block of Atrisco Vista NW, near Interstate 40 and a truck stop, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Deputies found Irving trying to do CPR on his girlfriend beside a car, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Deputies said Irving initially told them the couple had been drinking in the car when he “passed out.” Irving told deputies that when he came to, he found his girlfriend on the ground next to the car.

The medical investigator found the girlfriend showed signs that she had been choked to death and Irving had defensive scratches on his arms, according to the complaint. Irving said he did not know how he got the scratches and then, as deputies prepared to take DNA swabs from him, he told them he “remembered what occurred.”

Deputies said Irving told them the couple got into an argument and she bit his finger. He said he choked his girlfriend “until she stopped moving” outside of the car and then got back in and fell asleep.

“He was still having trouble remembering what the argument was about,” according to the complaint. “… When asked why he didn’t let go of (his girlfriend) sooner, (Irving) said he just wanted her to calm down and said, ‘I held her too long.'”