ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Zachary Babitz is accused of auto theft, murder and robbery in New Mexico and California.

Albuquerque police are still working to connect him to another car theft case here in the metro.

KOB 4 spoke with the victim and told her about Babitz’s past. Erin Wear and her boyfriend say they sleep a little easier now knowing that the man who allegedly hit Wear and stole her car is behind bars.

Babitz is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday following the latest alleged crimes, but Albuquerque police investigators have not conclusively linked him to Wear’s car theft.

Last week, Santa Fe police linked Babitz to a fatal carjacking at Best Buy. He is accused of shooting Gordon Wilson and then stealing Wilson’s car.

Police arrested the 38-year-old in Las Cruces on Saturday night. He is accused of breaking into a fast-food restaurant at gunpoint and stealing a woman’s car. Las Cruces police say Babitz was seen with a woman, but she got away.

Babitz was already on probation for a Starbucks robbery in 2018. He was released in March, but then allegedly robbed a Wells Fargo bank in Albuquerque on July 31. According to police, he also cut off his ankle bracelet.

But what does the car theft in the Albuquerque subway have to do with it? According to the APD incident report, the car was stolen on Friday morning.

Wear told us that she and her boyfriend, Richard Cavaliere, had only received their Acura MDX three days earlier.

APD and LCPD confirmed it was found in Las Cruces, but at this time the circumstances are unclear. We don’t know if Babitz was in the car when he was arrested.

Wear told us that Babitz hit her in the head and knocked her unconscious. After learning his story, she is grateful she is still alive.

“Can you believe that? That it could have been me?” said Wear.

Wear and Cavalier feel like they can sleep again after learning that the man who allegedly hit Wear in the head and stole her car is behind bars.

“It was my girlfriend and her new boyfriend that she just met. She introduced me to him and I drove him to her hotel. When I stopped at Walmart to get cigarettes, he hit me on the side of the head and took my car,” Wear said.

When KOB 4 showed Wear a photo of Babitz, she immediately recognized him as the man she believed hit her and stole her car.

“That’s him. Yes, that’s him. Yup, that’s him,” said Wear.

Wear also said she believes the woman in the photo is her friend who introduced her to Babitz.

“Yes, that’s the girl who was with him,” Wear said.

Las Cruces police have not yet determined the woman’s identity, but say she was present when Babitz was arrested. Both are accused of robbing an Arby’s restaurant and stealing a woman’s car, both times at gunpoint.

Wear says she lived in fear. During the interview, Cavalier was in the process of changing the locks.

“I was scared he was going to catch me because he stole my house keys and everything, and I was scared he was going to come into my house and hurt me,” Wear said. “I feel a lot safer. Yes, I can sleep better at night now because I wasn’t sleeping.”

For Albuquerque Police investigators, it is not clear that Babitz is connected to this car theft.