Colorado detective making progress on 27-year-old double homicide case

[spamelope]

Splotches of blood and bullet casings discovered in an old school bus rusting away in a meadow of aqua sage brush on the New Mexico border have reignited interest in a 27-year- old double-homicide.

A couple seen hitchhiking decades ago may have been picked up by someone who drove them to the bus, where the man was shot, and the woman strangled and possibly raped. Both bodies were dumped into the San Juan River.

The two were killed in the summer of 1982, but only a few months later the case went cold after a jurisdictional dispute between investigators and prosecutors in Colorado and New Mexico. Though suspects were named, no one was ever arrested.


http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13535401?source=searchles

[SuziQ]

I wonder who left the flowers?

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13535401?source=searchles

(snip)
"Somebody killed these people and so far have gotten away with it," Barter said. "But I'm not done with it."
Recently, he went to an Albuquerque cemetery where the headless skeleton of "John Doe Co." is buried with about 40 other unidentified dead in a dusty corner section. His was the only one adorned with newly purchased synthetic flowers.
"It gave me chills," Barter said. "It was very odd."

[spamelope]

I wonder who left the flowers?

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13535401?source=searchles

(snip)
"Somebody killed these people and so far have gotten away with it," Barter said. "But I'm not done with it."
Recently, he went to an Albuquerque cemetery where the headless skeleton of "John Doe Co." is buried with about 40 other unidentified dead in a dusty corner section. His was the only one adorned with newly purchased synthetic flowers.
"It gave me chills," Barter said. "It was very odd."

Someone who feels a bit guilty?

[chemcopout]

it's really amazing what they can do to solve cold cases with the advancements they made with the dna and forensics they have now!

[Jesikah1]

So I am correct in understanding that they have not identified the victims? After reading the article i was left to believe that the ranch hand Miller may have been one of the bodies? These cold cases always leave me frustrated with how little information is left on them, but it seems like in this case there may be hope with forensics from the bus. Hopefully the other key players in the case will be traceable with information, i.e. Ms. Madrid and detectives of both states who worked on the case.

It would seem as though somebody close to the case was following it if they left flowers at the John Doe's grave site, especially considering that Albuquerque is not near the border where the bodies were found. I would not have thought that the body would have been taken there given the details in the article, so somebody would have had to have gotten this information from somebody close to the case in my opinion. I hope there is some follow up to this article, as these cases so often just drop off the radar after the initial reporting.

[Fairy1]

So I am correct in understanding that they have not identified the victims? After reading the article i was left to believe that the ranch hand Miller may have been one of the bodies? These cold cases always leave me frustrated with how little information is left on them, but it seems like in this case there may be hope with forensics from the bus. Hopefully the other key players in the case will be traceable with information, i.e. Ms. Madrid and detectives of both states who worked on the case.

It would seem as though somebody close to the case was following it if they left flowers at the John Doe's grave site, especially considering that Albuquerque is not near the border where the bodies were found. I would not have thought that the body would have been taken there given the details in the article, so somebody would have had to have gotten this information from somebody close to the case in my opinion. I hope there is some follow up to this article, as these cases so often just drop off the radar after the inital reporting.

I hope enough info comes out soon that we can post these victims in the UID forum. Wow - talk about dropped balls!

[WholeLottaRosie]

I put flowers on a local Jane Doe's grave from time to time, just out of sorrow that she wasn't identified. (She has since been identified). Maybe someone did it for the same reasons I did.

[doublestop]

An article with a bit more info:

http://www.pagosasun.com/archives/2009/07july/070209/pg1reopenmurdercase.html

And a link on websleuths to further discussion:

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4285267

[Jesikah1]

Thank You Doublestop for the links, the info shared in them was very informative. The part about the Chavez brothers' speculating about drugs being a cause for the murders seem quite possible, at least for the man who got shot, but I am still concerned about no id for the victims. It seems unlikely that they were from that area, as no one has reported them missing, (that we know of at least), but you know somebody is wondering about their fate somewhere. I'd like to know what kind of operations were running drugs in the area around that time, large or small, local or transient that kind of thing.

I wish they'd described the flavor of what was going on in that area during that era, as it would make it easier to speculate what happened to these victims. And I have to mention the absurdity of a 15 year statute of limitations on murder prosecutions here, I am glad that is no longer in effect, but wow.

[spamelope]

Thanks for the links, doublestop! I should have known our sleuths were already hard at work on this. Rosie, that was sweet of you to do that for your Doe. From the other article, I gathered that there is a line of graves and nothing marking John Does' grave. It sounds like what we called Potter's Field back in Ill-where they bury the poor, unknown, etc. I'm just glad that there is new interest in the case, along with new technology, and that the culprits are caught. And wow, Jesikah, I had never heard of a state with a statute of limitations in any murder case. Glad that's changed.