Shawn Allen Tise

What the hell happened to Shawn Allen Tise?

Shawn Allen Tise was only 23 when he left his sister’s house in Las Cruces on January 6, 1995. He wasn’t seen alive again. His sister lived near the Robledo Mountains, which are close to Radium Springs and a common hiking destination. 

A family decided to go out for a nice hike in the Robledo Mountains on January 21, 1995. But their day soured when they found a severely bruised and shirtless male body lying in a rocky area near Geronimo’s Cave.

The body’s ethnicity could not be determined due to its advanced stage of decomposition. The victim was clad in brown socks with holes worn in them and a pair of khaki pants. A baseball cap, shirt, and jacket lay fifteen feet away. The body had sustained a lot of bruising, especially on the right side of the head. He had large “saucer-shaped” bruises all over his back and abrasions all over his skin. His feet bore many cuts, probably from walking on rocks without shoes. 

Tise’s family immediately suspected it was him. OMI confirmed that it was him through fingerprints and dental records.

Tise had died of hypothermia. Since most people feel a burning heat when they are freezing to death, they often strip down, which could explain why many articles of Tise’s clothing lay near him. But what about the bruising? And how did Tise end up in this remote location? He never told anyone that he planned to go for a hike in the Robledos.

In fact, authorities determined Tise had not been in that location the entire two weeks he was missing. He had only been dead for about a week before he was found. But no one can account for his activities the week before he died. 

Even weirder, Tise had previous military wilderness training and knew how to take care of himself on a hike. It seems strange that he would meet his end due to being unprepared for the elements. The Robledo Mountains Wilderness Area is a fairly popular hiking route, so Tise was not lost in some vast, untouched wilderness where he would have wandered until he died. 

Some think that Tise’s death may have been a murder, including his family. But no evidence to that effect was found in the crime scene. There was no evidence of a weapon used or a struggle.

The bruising is unexplained, though. What caused the saucer-shaped bruises on his back? The bruising and abrasions may have been from a bad fall from a rock ledge near the cave, but why would he fall? Also, what happened to his shoes?

The Tise family never reported Shawn missing because he often would disappear for a few weeks at a time. He always eventually called, though. When his dad read about the body in the Robledo Mountains in the paper, he said “It hit me right between my eyes and I knew it was him up there.” It seems his family knew Tise liked to go hiking alone. 

I wonder if Tise had some type of psychotic break that led him to hike without shoes and eventually succumb to the elements. Or maybe he was under the influence of some type of substance, though I can’t find any mention of the results of his toxicology screen. None of the sources I read mention if he struggled with drugs. Maybe someone did something to him out there. We just have more questions than answers in this young man’s death. I hope it is solved one day so his family can have peace and closure. 

http://www.nmsoh.org/tise_shawn_allen_us.htm