On a long road trip from Austin, I drove through the Hondo Valley at night on Highway 380, sometime in 2010 or 2011. The rocks in the tall cliffs lining the highway practically glowed white in the moonlight. I remember feeling uneasy and thinking this valley was creepy. I couldn’t get through it fast enough. Now, I have learned that the Hondo Valley is a pretty creepy place with an unusually high number of terrible crimes and cold cases for its rather low population. Most concerning to me are the numbers of familicides that have happened here.
This valley is home to a few small villages clustered around Hwy 380 – namely Glencoe, San Patricio, Hondo, Picacho, and Tinnie. The valley was created by the Rio Ruidoso, which feeds the verdant farmland and bustling ranches of the area. The valley is within a short driving distance of Ruidoso Downs, and it is about an hour away from Roswell. Beyond farms, there is also a distillery and an iris farm that make this area worth visiting.
However, there are some chilling things that have happened here. Here are a few of them:
2011: Evelyin Miranda
On June 8, 2011, Evelyn Miranda was found asphyxiated to death in her home. Her nephew found her dead body. Her two foster children – Alexis Shields and Desaree Linares – were both missing and the family van was also gone. Eventually the girls were located in Carlsbad at a boyfriend’s house. They were in possession of Miranda’s car, phone, and laptop, as well as some of her cash. They were both arrested and charged with her murder.
Evelyn Miranda was a treatment foster mom, meaning that she had taken extensive training to foster kids with serious criminal and mental issues in her home. Treatment foster care is not the same as regular foster care. Families can voluntarily send their children to treatment homes in lieu of a psychiatric hospital or juvenile facility. Miranda worked with the Mesilla Valley Treatment Foster Care program, which is based out of Las Cruces. She was known to be giving, generous, and loving. She owned a beauty shop called Hair Styles by Evelyn and she worked hard to care for her wards. She also had family in the area and two adult children who were no longer living with her at the time of her death.
In 2011, she took on the two 15-year-old girls who ended her life. Desiree Linares, from Roswell, had been with her for about 2 weeks. Then Alexis Shields from Mescalero came to her home and was there two days before Miranda’s death. The two tied Miranda up, smothered her with a pillow, and then absconded her van and purse. They drove it to Carlsbad to stay with Alexis Shields’ boyfriend.
Shields served 999 days in jail before being tried as an adult. She made a deal with prosecution where she pled guilty to first-degree murder at trial and got her charges of conspiracy, robbery, kidnapping, and tampering with evidence dismissed. Ultimately, she was given 30 years. The judge did suspend 17 of those years due to her time served.
Shields was 17 at the time of her sentencing, but only 15 at the time she killed Miranda. The judge believed she was manipulative, unremorseful, and in need of some serious time. Shields’ background reveals that she had just received a year-long probation for battery. At the trial, she said she takes responsibility for what she did and she wants forgiveness. “I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart,” she said. She is currently serving out her sentence at Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants.
Linares was found incompetent to stand trial due to mental retardation. She was not convicted of the murders. However, she was committed to the NM Department of Health and spent some time in a psychiatric hospital. It appears she was more of an accomplice than the mastermind of the homicide. Shields may have exploited her mental incompetence to get her to help.
I read that people who commit parricide tend to fall into three categories: mentally ill, psychopathic, or traumatized by abuse. Psychopathic children tend to kill family members whom they believe stand in their way of achieving a goal. In this case, these girls probably did not view their foster mother as real family, but they did view her as someone in the way of their goals of freedom. Since they were in treatment foster care, they clearly had some issues previously. They killed her for freedom and access to her cash, vehicle, phone, and laptop.
2007: Jonathan Lopez
On August 26 or 27, 2006, Jonathan Lopez was murdered by two brothers, Michael and James Woodhall. He got into an argument with them that resulted in his death. His body was left in a shallow grave in a wooded area of the Hondo Valley. It was discovered five months later, badly decomposed. It took a few more months to identify him and his killers.
Michael was first arrested on January 11, 2007, for tampering with evidence. He was only 19. He confessed to sheriff’s deputies and showed them where to find the body.
On February 1, 2007, his brother James was also arrested. James was only 18 at the time.
Both brothers were indicted on counts of murder and tampering with evidence in a capital crime.
It’s not clear if they were convicted on all these charges. Per the NM Dept of Corrections website, neither brother is currently incarcerated.
The story Michael Woodall gave was that Lopez had burglarized a Ruidoso gas station. The brothers confronted him, leading Lopez to pull a pistol on James Woodall. Michael then hit him in the head with a liquor bottle and James started beating him to death. When he was finally dead, they buried him where they knew he wouldn’t be found. Informants, however, came forward and told sheriffs what had transpired.
Lopez is now buried in Alamogordo, though he was from Ruidoso Downs. He was only 20 when he was killed. I can’t find much about him online. I don’t know what happened to him or even how he was killed. But I am glad that he was found and his killers were brought to justice. I wish he had gotten the chance to turn his life around from burglary, if the story Michael Woodall gave about his death is true.
The Hondo Valley is a good place to commit murder because it is so desolate. If it hadn’t been for Michael Woodall’s confession, Lopez may never have been located. He would instead have joined the ranks of the many missing in New Mexico.
2004: Cody Posey
Cody Posey is pretty famous for murdering his father Delbert Posey, stepmother Tyrone Posey, and thirteen-year-old stepsister Marilea Schmid on the ranch where they stayed and worked on July 4, 2004. He shot them all in the house, then buried them in a manure pile with a backhoe. The ranch owner, ABC newsman and rancher Sam Donaldson, returned to the ranch following Fourth of July weekend. He found the house full of blood and broken glass, so he promptly called police. They soon found the shallow graves in the manure pile and arrested Posey.
Posey was only fourteen. He was tried as a juvenile and convicted of first degree murder of his stepsister, Marilea; second degree of his stepmother; and voluntary manslaughter of his father.
Instead of prison time, Posey was sent to a psychiatric hospital. At the age of 21, he rejoined society and is apparently doing well, though his whereabouts are kept confidential in news reports. He earned college credits in custody and has plans to go to college. His attorney advised him to change his name and leave New Mexico to have a less problematic life. There is also $87 million dollars awarded to the victims, which Posey could legally collect on if he so chooses. There are no reports of him doing this.
How could a fourteen-year-old do something so cold-blooded? Defense at his trial said he was terribly abused and his father had tried to force him to have sex with his stepmother the night before the murders. Cody then snapped and killed his family on the Fourth. He first shot his stepmother, who was lying on the couch. When his father came in through the front door to investigate the gunshot, he killed him too. Marilea trailed behind the father and Cody shot her last.
Witnesses came forward and agreed they had seen Cody’s father mistreat him and slap him. They said his stepmother treated him like a burden and his stepsister was frequently rewarded for tattling on him. Cody was used as a slave on the ranch, according to other ranch hands.
Prosecution claimed that Posey’s tales of maltreatment were “more manure piled on top of the bodies.” While there were witnesses of his abuse, there were also many witnesses who claimed Cody was not abused. They said they never saw a bruise on him or noticed that his father wasn’t nice to him.
As a child, Cody’s parents divorced. Cody’s mother won custody of him. On a cross-country move to Washington state, the family had a rollover accident. Cody watched his mother die in this accident. He was only ten. After that, he was sent back to his father. He cried and begged not to be sent there. Clearly he didn’t have a great relationship with his dad.
I hope that Cody is living a good life now and has managed to heal from the abuse he endured. I don’t believe in dismissing victims. If there were reports that he had been abused, then he likely was. Without proof, we can’t speculate that he was lying. I don’t think he should have resorted to murder, but maybe he felt he had no other choice.
1984: Judy and Cotton McKnight
I have written a much more thorough overview of this double murder here.
Judy and Thomas P. “Cotton” McKnight owned the Upper McKnight Ranch, a quiet sheep ranch in Picacho, NM. They were discovered dead in their kitchen on November 15, 1984. They had been executed by a .38 caliber gun. Their double homicide is believed to have occurred on November 13, 1984.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office believed they could solve the case, but the crime scene was so clean that little evidence could be gleaned from it. The state police took over the investigation in 1986 and claimed the sheriff’s office had muddled things to the point that the case could not be solved. It is now cold today.
Judy was a single mother of a boy named Randy. Cotton had a son by a previous marriage as well, Judson. Judy and Cotton were not happy together and were likely headed for divorce. Friends of Judy’s said that Cotton was a bully who whittled down her self-esteem. Cotton told people Judy was an alcoholic.
Some people suspect that Cotton ran drugs out of the ranch to solve money issues he was facing. Drugs and paraphernalia like heroin needles were uncovered in the home, fueling rumors that Judy used drugs. Both Cotton and Judy were rumored to have affairs, as well. One of the main suspects is a drug dealer and a friend of Judy’s son Randy, who was allegedly running drugs using the ranch’s private airstrip. This man’s name was Donald Duncan and he is actually the ex-husband and a suspect of murder victim Lisa Duncan.
A few weeks prior to the murders, Cotton called his childhood friend, Chaves County Sheriff Deputy Fabry, and said that he had a terrible problem he needed help with. Fabry offered to come to the ranch to help him on November 28, 1984, but Cotton died before that could happen. Cotton also told State Police officer Phil Baiers about his problem. Phil Baiers was married to Cotton’s ex-wife, Vicki. Baiers apparently assisted him with the problem, whatever it was. The problem likely had to do with money, but it remains one of the many mysteries in this case.
There were no signs of robbery or forced entry. Liquor bottles, a beer can, and a shot glass were found on the kitchen table, indicating that Judy and Cotton had been entertaining the person or persons who killed them. Prints were lifted from these items, but a match was not found in fingerprint cards the state police compared them with. An investigator in the case later attempted to run these prints through AFIS, but was stopped by District Attorney, Diana Martwick. This is just one of the many suggestions of a cover-up that kept this case cold.
Suspiciously, no one in the Picacho area would talk about the case. People who investigated it received death threats and were stalked by unknown assailants. When Lincoln County Deputy Sheriff Charlie Cox reopened the case in 2010, someone threw a rattlesnake onto his porch. While there were many viable suspects, none of them were investigated properly. Evidence in the case would often go missing from both the sheriffs and state police offices.
Due to the efforts of a journalist named “Mark,” the case is still alive. A plethora of information can be found about it on Mark’s Facebook page, Justice for Judy and Cotton McKnight. Mark also appeared on the cleverly named True Consequences podcast, where he talks about his experiences with police corruption and collusion in this case. Mark’s contributions to this case appear to be the only sources available online; not much else is available out there on the double homicide.
Unfortunately, Mark’s efforts alone are not enough to untangle this complex web of a case, especially when evidence has routinely been lost or withheld by the investigating agencies. Sifting through his Facebook page is overwhelming – there are tons of recordings and documents that all seem to offer conflicting or obfuscating details. All I really got from his page was that many people aren’t telling the truth and many pieces are missing from the puzzle.
Now it’s been almost 40 years. This couple may never get justice.
1935: The Shaffer Family
November 11, 1935, was a dark day in Hondo. Willard and Carrie Shaffer were walking from the cowshed to their home with pails of milk. That’s when they were both shot by someone standing inside their screen door. It is thought Willard Schaffer was probably shot first; his wife knelt over his body and then received a fatal bullet in her head as well. Willard Schaffer tried to rise and was shot a second time.
Their nine-year-old son, Tommy, had been ill in bed that day. He was sketching on a pad when the killer entered his room and crushed in his skull with an ax. The ax was leaning against the wall of his bedroom, covered in blood.
The day after the murders, a concerned neighbor found them. The neighbor ran to the E.V. Morris General Store to telephone the sheriff at the time, A.S. McCamant. Sheriff McCamant said he never learned the name of the neighbor.
With State Police, he began investigating the triple homicide. He found the family dog, shot in the flank and locked in the barn, still alive. They reenacted the scene and determined the killer had been shooting from within the home, leaving four holes in the screen door.
Both Shaffer’s rifle and 1935 Chevrolet coach were missing from the home. In addition, the killer clearly knew the family well because he knew where Willard Shaffer kept his money. He also knew that the family dog liked to jump in the car, so he shot the dog and locked him in the barn.
Conspicuously absent was their house guest, their nephew Granville Hollis Martin. Martin had come by bus a few days prior to visit. He was immediately the prime suspect and State Police searched high and low for him.
Within a few days, he was caught in Oklahoma, driving his uncle’s car with two hitchhikers. Initially, he claimed that he had left his family alive and well in Hondo and his uncle had given him the car to drive home. Eventually, he confessed. “Why did you do it?” Sheriff McCamant asked.
“For money,” he said.
In a written statement, he said that Tommy caught him stealing the $27 from his aunt and uncle. He then hit Tommy over the head with a hammer and loaded a rifle to kill his aunt and uncle. While fleeing in their car, he says he “came to.” He drove the car all the while to Oklahoma, spending the night in Chickasa, where he was arrested. The rifle with which he had committed two murders was still inside the vehicle.
His stories frequently changed; for instance, Granville Martin claims that he did not really remember the killings; then he admitted to killing his aunt and uncle but denied remembering killing Tommy. He also did not show any remorse as he gave his statements.
In 1936, he was convicted of first-degree murder of his aunt and uncle, despite his attempts to plead insanity. The jury was hung on the murder of little Tommy. Ultimately he was never convicted of that murder.
Martin appealed twice and was convicted both times. He was actually sentenced to death by electric chair and was transported to Santa Fe to be electrocuted on August 7, 1936. But he stayed the execution by filing another appeal.
Eventually, his death sentence was overturned by New Mexico Governor Clyde Tingley, amid much controversy. He instead went to prison, and was paroled out in 1952. In 1967, he was granted a full pardon by New Mexico Governor Dave Cargo. I’m not sure why he was granted that when he did something so heinous and cruel to his own family.
The Shaffers had been renting a small farm tract in the Hondo Valley from the Southern Pacific Railway. They had been in the area for about eight or nine years. They always said that Granville was their favorite nephew.
Granville Hollis Martin was born in Hope, New Mexico, and lived in Altus, Oklahoma and Lincoln, NM before he killed his family in Hondo. After prison, he married and lived well. He died in El Paso, TX, in 2001 at the age of 83. It is sad that he got to live out his life; he made sure his aunt, uncle, and little cousin never could. It is especially sad to me that he was never even convicted of murdering little Tommy, who never got to become an adult or get married or anything else thanks to his cousin’s greed.
Three lives lost and a dog horribly injured for $27, a rifle, and a car.
For more reading on Evelyn Miranda:
https://www.abqjournal.com/363809/teen-gets-10-years-for-killing-san-patricio-foster-mother.html
https://www.tributes.com/obituary/show/Evelyn-Viola-Miranda-91712775
https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/explanation-of-parricide-and-why-kids-kill-parents
http://www.koat.com/r/28187566/detail.html
http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2011…rested-in-murder-of-lincoln-county-woman.html
http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2148975.shtml?cat=500
http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_18238463
https://mycrimelibrary.com/desiree-linares-and-alexis-shields-teen-killers/
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nm-supreme-court/1852398.html
For more reading on Cody Posey:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/man-who-killed-3-at-sam-donaldsons-nm-ranch-freed
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/triple-murder-on-newsmans-ranch/
https://thecrimewire.com/true-crime/Murderous-Children-Cody-Posey
For more reading on Johnathon Lopez:
https://www.abqjournal.com/23740/755am-body-found-in-hondo-valley.html
https://www.abqjournal.com/23914/105pm-brothers-charged-with-killing-ruidoso-man.html
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117282623/johnathon-lopez