Today I bring to you some mysterious and bizarre New Mexico cold cases. These cases perplex me, mainly due to the few details available. I’m not sure if the police have more details, or if the cases are unsolved due to the lack of details. It is hard to use deductive reasoning and critical thinking when so little information is available.
Lorraine Salome Ramirez
Just what happened to Lorraine Salome Ramirez? Her case seems strange, sort of like Arsalan Serajian’s. She went missing in the Lower Galinas Campground in the Black Range and was eventually found dead out there. It appears that the elements claimed her. But why was she out there in the first place, when she was on oxygen and had limited mobility? Did someone take her out there?
Lorraine Ramirez went missing in April or May 2014. Her car was found abandoned at the Lower Galinas Campground in the Black Range, part of the Gila National Forest near Silver City. Search and rescue combed the area for her for days, turning up nothing.
But on June 28, someone found Lorraine’s body about 1.6 miles beyond the campground’s outhouses. How did search and rescue keep missing her? Her cause of death was undetermined.
Lorraine Ramirez was known to love hiking and camping in that area. But by the time of her death, she was on oxygen and could not walk well. People don’t think she could have walked to the location where she was found dead. So did she go out there? And why was she there?
I wonder if she forced herself to walk out there because seh wanted to die in a place that she loved. I wonder if this was suicide. Maybe she also took a little trip to a beautiful campground and then became stuck and died. But the creepy question remains, Did someone abduct her from her car and carry her to the location?
Ramirez was born in Ventura, CA, on December 14, 1966. She is believed to have died in May 2014 but an official date is not known. She was cremated, leaving behind her mother, her companion Ron Schumaker, and many siblings and cousins.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132396382/lorraine-salome-ramirez
https://www.southernnewmexicounsolvedmurders.com/
Daisy Mildred Reagan
Daisy Mildred Reagan was from Oklahoma but she had lived in Clovis for 13 years. In 1980, her husband, Eli Reagan, passed away. They had been married for 47 years. After that, Daisy lived alone and generally left her door unlocked. After all, Clovis is generally a safe and peaceful town.
On Tuesday, September 11, 1981, neighbors saw Daisy alive. Then she wasn’t seen again until Thursday, when a group of realtors entered her home and discovered her lying on the floor, manually strangled. They promptly notified police.
The house was a mess and items were stacked by the front door. Her murder was thought to be the result of a burglary gone wrong. Police think Reagan may have walked in on a burglary in progress. It is weird that the items were left by the burglar, though, and nothing of value was missing. It is possible that the killer ransacked her home for something specific, which would mean that the killer or killers knew her personally. It is also possible that she surprised the killer, who killed her and then panicked and bolted.
Daisy was only 65. She was looking forward to a peaceful life, enjoying the company of her three sisters, her son, and her two grandchildren. Instead she was cruelly murdered. The person who did this to her has not yet been charged. I want to know why Reagan was strangled so brutally and why the items stacked by her door were not taken.
Joan Vance
Joan Vance was shot during a robbery of the gift shop where she worked in Tucumcari. Her killers have never been identified.
Joan Vance grew up in the Tucumcari area on a ranch. She was a loving woman with a big smile and a bigger heart. She was always a housewife, so when she got a job at the Sundowner Gift Shop in Tucumcari in August 2003, she was excited. The gift shop sold gifts and art and Joan Vance was a stellar employee, according to the owner.
But on January 20, 2004, someone robbed the store. Vance handed over all the cash. Instead of taking the cash and leaving, the individual(s) responsible shot her in the chest. She was found dead.
No suspects have ever been identified. They are believed to be passersby on I40 or US 54. Vance left behind three children and grandchildren who really want answers.
Philip E. Jockle
Philip E. Jockle brought a gun to a knife fight and lost.
On July 2, 1981, Albuquerque police received a call about a dead body at the 200 block of Daskalos NE. They arrived in the early morning and found Philip Jockle fully clothed, face down in an undeveloped dirt lot. He had been stabbed multiple times.
Jockle had a gun holster on his hip and his pockets were also turned inside out. The gun obviously didn’t serve him very well for self-defense. After the killer stabbed Jockle to death, he stole the gun right from the holster and emptied Jockle’s pockets of cash.
Philip Jockle was only 57 when he died. He was from the Bronx before moving to Albuquerque. He was a veteran who had worked at Los Alamos and who had been involved in the infamous Manhattan Project.
Reyes Valenzuela
On February 19, 1995, Reyes Valenzuela was found dead from a single gunshot wound in his home in Socorro. Now almost 30 years later, his case is cold. There are no suspects and no additional details made public. I don’t even know if robbery appeared to be a motive. This is one of those New Mexico cold cases that could never be solved.
Scott Lloyd
Scott Lloyd was found dead in a van in Santa Fe on May 27, 2008. He had been beaten to death. He was only 25. Remarkably few details can be found on this New Mexico cold case.
Someone heard him shout out around 1:10 pm the previous night. He was also seen with someone at the van that night. Police responding to the scene moved his body preemptively, possibly sabotaging the crime scene.
Scott’s baby mama reports that he had an issue with drugs and was estranged from his family. He drifted around the nation, taking IT jobs. He was very artistic and loved to play guitar and the keyboards. Previously he had lost his twin brother, Sgt. Dale T. Lloyd, who had been killed in Iraq in 2004; he also lost another brother, Robert Richard Lloyd, and his father. It seems like he was a smart person who just couldn’t deal with his grief and personal demons.