My daughter, Stephanie Houston, 27, died on February 27, 2000, in Belen, NM, after being run over by her boyfriend, Patrick Murillo. The State Police refused to investigate Stephanie's death as anything other than an accident, despite strong evidence that she was killed deliberately by a jealous lover who thought she was on her way to meet another man...
However, when the criminal division of NMSP arrived, everything changed. If there was ever a guy who should not have been made scene investigator, it was Sgt. Mark McCracken, who was under investigation for the suspicious death of his own wife. On top of that, McCracken's buddy, Art Ortiz, who was a defendant in a civil suit for cover-up of the McCracken death, was dispatched to the scene as case investigator. McCracken and Ortiz must have felt like Patrick was a soulmate. They took him to the station, questioned him for a while, and then let him go. They even let him take all Stephanie's personal possessions, like the keys to her home and vehicle.