Moriarty Police Chief Adan Urbina and one of his officers, Christopher Costa, spent the summer of 2023 taking inventory of everything in their evidence room. The pair began the tedious work of inspecting and cataloging the boxes of seized possessions after Cpt. Mark Satterfield, the lone evidence custodian for this small police force some 40 […]
Joshua Bowling
Joshua Bowling, Searchlight's criminal justice reporter, spent nearly six years covering local government, the environment and other issues at the Arizona Republic. His accountability reporting exposed unsustainable growth, water scarcity, costly forest management and injustice in a historically Black community that was overrun by industrialization. Raised in the Southwest, he graduated from Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Posted inFeatured
WNMU regents ax Joseph Shepard’s severance and teaching contract
Unanimously, the newly appointed regents at Western New Mexico University have approved a plan to strike down former President Joseph Shepard’s previously awarded $1.9 million severance payment and five-year teaching contract, on the grounds that they were awarded in violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act. “Shepard’s separation agreement and faculty appointment are no longer […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
When a call for help ends in gunfire
A new lawsuit in the 2024 fatal police shooting of teenager Elijah Hadley could shed light on a persistent problem in New Mexico: an outsized portion of police violence begins with a welfare check
Posted inFeatured
Joseph Shepard sued by the New Mexico State Ethics Commission
The new civil action claims that the former WNMU president misappropriated at least $177,000 meant for ADA compliance and used it on a patio to host his daughter’s wedding reception
Posted inCriminal Justice
Protect and serve: Did county officials enable Ryan Martinez’s violent actions at a 2023 protest in Española?
Two survivors have filed suit against Rio Arriba County office-holders, alleging that their civil rights were violated when they failed to control dangerous conflicts surrounding the proposed reinstallation of a statue depicting Juan de Oñate
Posted inSidebars
Protect and serve: Did county officials enable Ryan Martinez’s violent actions at the 2023 Oñate protest in Española?
Two survivors have filed suit against Rio Arriba County office-holders, alleging that their civil rights were violated when they failed to control dangerous conflicts surrounding the proposed reinstallation of a statue depicting Juan de Oñate
Posted inFeatured
An infamous group of Russian-linked hackers appears to have launched a crippling cyberattack on WNMU
For nearly two weeks, Western New Mexico University’s website and digital systems have been held hostage by what officials in internal emails have called the efforts of a “foreign hacking group.” The university has not publicly addressed the severity of the attack, but documentation obtained by Searchlight New Mexico indicates that an infamous Russian-speaking hacking […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Inside the manslaughter conviction of a Las Cruces police officer
Before Brad Lunsford was charged with manslaughter for the 2022 shooting of Presley Eze, Searchlight New Mexico analyzed hundreds of police shootings across the state. We showed that officers are almost always found to be “acting in the line of duty” after killing someone.
Posted inNew Mexico's Children
Why so many Catholic churches file for bankruptcy
As sex abuse scandals continue to haunt the Catholic Church, many dioceses are turning to Chapter 11 as a way to settle hundreds of claims at once.
Posted inFeatured
Undercount: why the Catholic church won’t list many New Mexico priests who’ve been linked to sexual abuse
Critics say that the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s roster of “credibly accused” priests should be longer — by 59 names — but the church currently has no intention of adding them.