A huge list of unidentified people have been found in New Mexico. They deserve their names back. Here are a few cases that I believe could be solved. You can read my other articles on New Mexico unidentified bodies here:
1999 Sandoval County Jane Doe
The skeletal remains of a woman were located by quail hunters near San Ysidro, NM, on November 16, 1999. The remains are believed to have belonged to a woman due to the presence of long, wavy brown hair and barrettes near the remains. A blood-stained women’s coat, unspecified makeup items, a blanket, and two towels were also found with the remains. The woman was estimated to have been dead for a few months.
The woman had morphine in her brain tissue but it is unknown if it causes her death. Heroin is metabolized as morphine in order to cross the blood-brain barrier, so it is probable that she was a heroin user. Due to the blood-stained women’s coat, I don’t think she overdosed, I think she met a violent end.
The body was estimated to be between 23 and 60, which doesn’t narrow the search pool very much. Not much was possible to determine about her beyond the fact she was 5’1”.
Interestingly, the OMI believed the woman was Asian. San Ysidro is a fairly remote area on the Zia Reservation. The Asian population here is 0.23%. I got excited thinking these could be the remains of Girly Chew Hossencrofft or Jill Troia, but both women were ruled out. I got to thinking about it, and I realized that these remains could actually be those of a Native American woman. The OMI may have identified her as Asian due to the fact that many Native American people and Asian people share similar facial structures due to sharing a common genetic ancestor.
I think Melena Montoya from Albuquerque might be a good match because she was 22 and 5’1”, but she vanished on April 28, 1994, and this Jane Doe had only been dead a few months. Gloria Jean King is another possibility but again the time interval is too long as King vanished in 1996. Jeanette Maria de la Cruz vanished from Albuquerque on October 20, 1999, and may have been this Doe but the time interval seems too short. She was only 5’1” and was Hispanic. Velda Leyba vanished from Albuquerque, had light wavy brown hair, was addicted to unspecified drugs, and was only 5’ but she vanished in 1992.
However, there are just so many missing Native American women that she could be any one of them. If she really is Asian, she may have been from elsewhere or transient and she was dumped here due to it being so remote.
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/92545?nav
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/10294/details?nav
2005 Sandoval County Jane Doe
Another Jane Doe was found in Sandoval County on November 28, 2005. The bones were shoved between two boulders with no clothes or other items found on or near them. The body had been dead about a year and belonged to a female between 28 and 50. The victim had suffered Occipital condyles, which may have caused her neck pain and limited movement.
Her race, weight, height, eye color, and skin color could not be determined. So basically she could be anybody. The occipital condyles could be a great clue to identifying her.
Tiffany Reid vanished in 2004 but she was much younger than this Jane Doe.
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/8407
San Miguel County John Doe
A rancher was patrolling his fence when he found this John Doe in San Miguel County, near Las Vegas, NM. The man had not been there just 3 weeks prior. His NamUS case number is #UP14697.
I think this John Doe has a good chance of being identified due to his distinctive tattoos. He had an Oriental character on his left upper back, a dolphin with the letter B and C on his upper right arm, and an angel on his right upper back. The work was fairly faded, suggesting he got the tattoos over five years before.
He was mummified, so not much could be determined about his appearance. But he was determined to be under 40 and white. His height and weight could not be determined. He had sandy hair and blonde stubble on his face. A few tattered pieces of material were found near his remains. They may have been parts of white undershirt and white underpants.
2005 Sacramento Mountains John Doe (#UP2728)
This guy was found near a primitive camp in the Sacramento Mountains near Ruidoso. He was discovered on December 6, 2005, but there are no details about who found him. He was Native American and 5’7”. One of the many MMIWR?
The man had clothes and various items with him. This case certainly doesn’t look like a homicide. It seems instead he lived out there as one with Nature and when something like a heart attack or broken leg rendered him helpless to the elements. Nevertheless, it is important to identify him because his family might be wondering where he is. I wonder if he is missing from the nearby Mescalero Apache reservation?
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/2728
2012 Hope John Doe (#UP10598)
The reason this John Doe case is so mysterious is because this man was found in the middle of nowhere near Hope, NM, on September 12, 2012. He was found off of NM SR 13 and Squaw Canyon Road, lying in the pasture about 295 feet from the dirt road. A rancher was driving cattle when he found the near-complete skeleton with multiple limbs missing, probably due to wildlife.
This is a remote ranch area with few visitors. How this person got out here is a mystery but it appears he may have been a drifter, hitchhiking and walking through the area. This is because he carried a blanket and a tote bag with him. He was found wearing underwear, shorts, and sweatpants.
The remains didn’t yield many clues about this man’s identity. But he was determined to be 40-60 and 5’8”. He is believed to be white. His hair color, eye color, and weight are not known. He had been dead for at least a year when he was found.
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/10598?nav
2017 White Sands John Doe(#UP16690)
A John Doe was found by a park ranger in White Sands National Park on May 3, 2017. He was just a few scattered bones, with a bandanna, keys, and pants located nearby. One or more of his limbs were missing. We actually don’t know he is male – gender, race, height, and weight could not be determined. This suggests he had been dead for several years.
It seems really odd that this guy is not identifiable. Maybe he was a migrant walking through the area but this is not a known migrant path due to the high number of visitors here every day, year-round. It seems more likely he was a tourist, so how was he not identified with his vehicle? All tourists must stop at the welcome kiosk when entering the park to pay a fee and rangers record vehicle identification plates so that they can look for people who don’t leave when the park closes. You cannot spend the night out here unless there is a special event going on. There is a spot on Highway 70 where the sand dunes are flowing over the highway fence and a lot of people stop there and climb into the park for free, but a vehicle would have been left behind.
It also seems odd to me that he was dead for years before he was found. This area receives up to a little less than 800,000 visitors a year. It is also well-patrolled by rangers who will look for you if you stay after closing. It is a vast park, so remains could be missed, but it just seems rather unlikely.
Many people have died out here due to high heat and extreme aridness. The bright white of the gypsum sand can be dizzying and confusing, leading to people getting disoriented. Cause of death was impossible to determine for this John Doe, but it was probably due to the elements. This man must have come out here alone which is why no one reported him missing. The true mystery is how he got out here. I think he may have driven due to the fact he had keys, though the NamUS doesn’t specify if the keys were for a vehicle or a house or what. How his vehicle was not found and linked to him is a mystery.
1994 Carson National Forest John Doe
On September 5, 1994, Tim Matthews and another man were elk hunting when they located a human skull that had one bullet hole in it. The hunters said they found the skull approximately 20 miles away from Tres Piedras. It was near Dry Lake, a mile from Forest Road #87. Officer Martinez responded and located some other bones, including a mandible, but it is not known if these bones matched the skull. No clothing or identifying items were found near the bones.
The body was believed to be between 30 and 40. It belonged to a white or Hispanic male who had been dead for years.
I wonder if the body may have been David F. Chavez? He vanished from Chacon in 1988, 78 miles from the location of this John Doe. Details are few in his missing persons case so it is unclear if he simply vanished in the wilderness or if he met with foul play.
The Three Espanola John Does (#UP7365)
In an eerie case, three Native American men were found in an illegal trash dump site near Espanola on August 13, 2000. The dump site was near CR 135 and SR 84. They had all received gunshots to the head. They were estimated to be between 25 and 40. One was estimated to be 5’4”. The remains were skeletal and had been dead for an unspecified number of years.
Fragments of a green sweater, turquoise shirt, Wrangler 34×30 jeans, a black felt hat, black and gray cowboy boots, and a rusted pocket knife were with the remains, suggesting they were cowboys and maybe in the rodeo scene. They have never been identified.
A curious lack of information is available about this case. You would think the discovery of three bodies in a dump site would elicit a huge media storm. But…crickets.
I wonder if the remains belonged to Herman Etcitty? Not sure if the interval is too long, as Etcitty vanished in 1985. But he was very involved in the rodeo community and vanished under mysterious circumstances from Gallup.
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/7365?nav
1997 Palisades John Doe #UP8306
These remains were found tangled in brush near Palisades, NM, in the forest. They were found by a father and son on July 3, 1997. The body was determined to be 35-40 years of age, with black hair with streaks of gray in it and facial hair with red, gray, and brown colors in it. The body was clad in size 10.5 orange and tan cowboy boots, a black and gray padded jacket with the word “Spalding” on it, a long-sleeved flannel plaid shirt, a long-sleeved undershirt, and blue Dickies size 34×32. Near the body were four cardboard round pieces number 10-20 and green and orange plastic string. It looks like he may have been a marksman, out hunting or shooting.
Robert Amos Browning could be a possible match for this John Doe. Browning vanished from Monastery Lake on May 15, 1997. He was living out there in his truck. I couldn’t find a photo of Browning or a clear description of him, but he was an avid outdoorsman and he was 19. He seems too young to be this John Doe but some people are prematurely gray and also the OMI can be wrong in age estimates. The Palisades John Doe was found 135 miles away from Monastery Lake, but in the same forest. Someone could have abducted Browning, though the case does seem more like a death by misadventure, since the remains were found tangled in brush.