Free Republic

The body of 5-year-old Renezmae Calzada was found Wednesday in the Rio Grande near Santa Clara Pueblo, according to two sources who participated in the search crew. Authorities called back search parties shortly after the discovery, and started tearing down a command post they had established at Ohkay Casino, ending a search that involved scores of local and state police officers and FBI agents and even more local volunteers. "This was supposed to be a news conference for an update but it's um, a bit of bad news," Rio Arriba County Sheriff James Lujan said at the beginning of a...

NM state senator shocked by DWI arrest: ‘Are you serious?’ ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico state senator expressed surprise when he learned he was being arrested on a drunken driving charge, slurring his speech as he lay in an emergency room and saying to an officer, “Are you serious? Jesus Christ.” The comments from Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Espanola, appeared in police lapel video released Monday. Police said he crashed his Mercedes SUV on Friday night into the back of a vehicle that had two people inside stopped at a red light in Espanola, north of Santa Fe.

A man police are calling a would-be burglar lost most of his calf muscles Monday after an Avenida Cañada homeowner shot him at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun. “(The homeowner) said he didn’t have the heart to kill him,” Española Police Lt. Christian Lopez said. “He shot him in the legs.” Joe Quintana, 28, was still in surgery at Española Hospital late Monday evening after he was shot by Joseph McNeil just before 9 a.m., Lopez said. A slug from McNeil’s shotgun tore through Quintana’s right calf muscle, which destroyed it, and went through his left calf, partially removing...