As Jesus Cadena sat on his front porch in Ruidoso, smoking cigarettes and watching the helicopters and airplanes drop water over the South Fork Fire, he had no way of knowing that according to New Mexico State Police he was officially unaccounted for in a disaster.

Cadena and his family are one of thousands who reunited during the hours after the South Fork and Salt fires tore through neighborhoods and forest in southeastern New Mexico. A list of unaccounted people that has grown and shrunk since the fires ignited on June 17 now sits at one, officials with the Village of Ruidoso said on Wednesday.

Two people died in the fire.

Yesterday, officials reported that a list of 89 people it was aware of were “unaccounted for” were a priority to contact after the fires and floods. 

Michael Scales, a Lincoln County emergency management specialist, told Source New Mexico that all people unaccounted for on the list given to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department were located by midday Wednesday. 

Ruidoso police are still looking for the final person on the list. 

Cadena’s reunite after evacuation orders separated family

Thousands of Ruidoso-area residents had to evacuate their homes and businesses last week, fleeing from the treacherous South Fork and Salt fires which continue to smolder. 

But for some people, heartbreak was the first emotion they experienced as loved ones chose to stay behind. 

Cyndi Cadena was one evacuee who had to leave an elderly parent behind in Ruidoso.

“I talked to my mom and dad and my mom tried to persuade my dad and he still didn’t want to leave,” she said.

Cadena takes care of her octogenarian parents in their Ruidoso home near the Walmart Supercenter. Isabel and Jesus Cadena built the cabin in the late 1970s and have lived in the Sacramento Mountain community since.

When the fire started last Monday, Cyndi Cadena said she talked with her brother who works for Mescalero Apache Telecom. As he saw the fires worsen, he told his family they needed to get out of the area. 

Cyndi Cadena said the family was initially told to go to the senior center in Ruidoso Downs, but then they were directed farther away to Roswell.

“We were finding out that Roswell was getting full and there’s no place to stay,” she said. 

Members of the family were able to eventually find space in Roswell, but Cyndi and her parents stayed, trying to help other elderly community members navigate the chaos at the senior center. 

“I was trying to help, you know, because everyone needed help,” Cyndi said. 

The three Cadenas remained in the area into the early Tuesday morning hours. 

Jesus Cadena did not want to leave. Several hours later he was running low on oxygen. 

Cyndi Cadena said as the smoke settled in the sky, the chaos seemed to calm a bit, so she took her parents back to their home and got her father hooked up to his home ventilator. This gave her a chance to grab several more things from the house, let her parents rest and feed them. 

Around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, she said she was ready to take them all down the mountain through Hondo, to Roswell and eventually safety. After trying to persuade her father again, she closed the windows, sealed up the house and left with her mother. 

“I said ‘let’s go mom, we gotta go’ and I hugged my dad and I just went out the door and prayed,” she said through tears. 

Her brother-in-law stayed behind to take care of the older Cadena and look in on other elderly residents who did not want to leave Ruidoso.

The Cadena women traveled over and around northern Ruidoso and made their way to Alamogordo where they stayed with family until Thursday. Because internet and cellular service was down back home, they had no way of communicating with the family that stayed. 

She called hotlines dedicated to reuniting people during the fire, asking if anyone knew if her father was still in Ruidoso. Her calls placed Jesus Cadena on a list of officially unaccounted for people that emergency responders tracked during fires and floods.

Cyndi Cadena also called New Mexico State Police for a welfare check, which revealed that her father and brother-in-law were still at the family house.

The family’s concerns were calmed last Thursday during a Facetime call with Jesus Cardena.

“My mom got to see him so they were sentimental and everything,” Cyndi Cadena said about her parents talking through the phone.

She said it gave her mother some comfort to be able to at least see her husband, who still refused to leave Ruidoso because he wanted to wait for the rain that followed.

The family remained separated until Sunday evening, June 23 when evacuation orders were lifted and residents were able to return to their homes and assess the damage. 

Cadena told Source New Mexico via text message that they were able to go to Ruidoso Downs where they all reunited. 

The family home was untouched, but many other community members were not so lucky.

LAS VEGAS, N.M. — New Mexico State Police arrested a suspect accused of shooting and killing someone during an alleged home invasion last week in Las Vegas.

29-year-old Elijah Martinez is accused of breaking into a home at 522 Hermosa Drive in Las Vegas and shooting the homeowner’s husband.

Officers responded to the scene and reportedly saw a vehicle leaving the area. They caught up to the vehicle and stopped it.

Officers identified the driver as Martinez. They say he had blood on his clothing, a pistol close to him and shell casings on the floor of the vehicle.

Police detained Martinez. As they detained him, Las Vegas police officers responded and found 53-year-old Nathan Romero dead at the scene.

They say agents learned Martinez drove around town in his vehicle with a friend after work. Then, after arguing, the friend left the truck, causing them to hide due to Martinez allegedly being armed. The friend reportedly told police they heard a single gunshot coming from the vehicle before Martinez drove off.

Martinez allegedly drove to the Romero home and got into a verbal altercation with them. He then allegedly broke into the home, pulled out a handgun and shot Romero. Then, Martinez reportedly fired several more shots while going back in before leaving altogether.

Elijah Martinez was arrested and booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery, criminal damage to property of over $1000, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a household member and shooting at or from a motor vehicle.

The shooting is still under investigation.

Republicans from southeast New Mexico called for legislative priorities like stiffer criminal penalties and wildfire aid to the Ruidoso area as they await Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to set the agenda for the upcoming “public safety” special lawmaking session starting July 18.

The governor called the session earlier this year after several priority bills intended to increase restrictions on firearms were either softened via amendments or blocked during the regular 2024 Legislative Session ending in February.

Two guns bills passed: one to institute a seven-day waiting period for firearm purchases and another banning firearms at polling places. The wait time bill was shortened from its initial 14-day period, and both bills saw exemptions added for concealed carry.

This followed a controversial move by Lujan Grisham last year to ban concealed or open carry of guns in the Albuquerque area, in response to multiple shootings, which was struck down by a court.

New Mexico Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R-55) of Carlsbad warned that if Democrats attempted more gun regulations during the special session, the GOP would stand ready to oppose.

More: New Mexico GOP demands action on border security after visit to Santa Teresa crossing

“I would be very much against any additional gun restrictions,” Brown said. “I don’t know that she (Lujan Grisham) will try that. It certainly would take up a lot of time.”

Rep. Jim Townsend (R-54) of Artesia said instead lawmakers should focus on deterring crime, increasing security at the U.S.-Mexico border and providing some financial assistance to people and businesses in Lincoln County struggling amid two devastating wildfires.

The South Fork and Salt fires began burning in the Ruidoso area on June 17, torching more than 20,000 acres and leading to evacuations from the village and nearby Ruidoso Downs, while impacting more than 1,000 structures. Full-time residents were allowed to return Monday to assess any damage to their property, with many homes and businesses destroyed in the blaze.

“We have a lot of potential to get businesses going again, to help people that have lost things,” Townsend said.

Sen. Cliff Pirtle (R-32) announced a bill for the session on Monday to increase penalties for looting, specifically from homes and businesses evacuated in areas where an emergency declaration is in place, as with the fires in Ruidoso.

More: New Mexico GOP threatens ‘extremely painful’ special session if guns bills are introduced

GOP wants to address ‘impact’ of U.S.-Mexico border

To secure the U.S.’ southern border, which runs through a portion of the state to the west of Townsend’s district, he said lawmakers should meeting with law enforcement officials and follow their lead.

“If you want to address crime in New Mexico, you can’t ignore the impacts of the southern border. We should our law enforcement guys down there,” Townsend said. “We should listen to them, and do it.”

Members of the state GOP visited the border crossing at Santa Teresa on April 30, calling for funds for a series of cameras along the New Mexico portion of the border that could tie into an existing network installed by Arizona and a resolution to see State Police work with the U.S. Border Patrol on enforcement in the area.

Other initiatives in the GOP border package included legislation to prohibit state and local government policies to block cooperation with federal immigration authorities and adding a first-degree murder charge for distributing fentanyl resulting in death.

Brown said lawmakers should find ways to disincentivize drug traffickers she said target New Mexico’s border because of a lack of enforcement.

“The reason Cartels are dealing drugs in our country is because there’s money involved. It’s very profitable for them,” she said. “If we could blunt that, it would certainly help increase safety.”

More: Southeast New Mexico lawmakers claim victory, frustration after 2024 legislative session

Punishments for New Mexicans who commit crimes should also be increased, Brown said, through enhanced sentenced that could deter criminals while keeping those convicted of crimes incarcerated for longer.

“There’s a long list of topics we think are very germane to public safety, but it has to be true public safety,” Brown said.

She said Republicans were likely to publicize specific proposals in the coming weeks ahead of the special session and would look to address the topic in the next regular session starting in January 2025.

“The real cause of crime in Albuquerque is there’s no punishment for the people who are doing the crime,” Townsend said. “You got to take away the desire to do it in a meaningful way. The way you do that is when people realize the restitution they’ll have to pay society is not worth trying to get away with it.”

Republican leaders want crime, immigration bills considered

Republican lawmakers in the House on June 10 issued a letter to Lujan Grisham demanding the session’s priorities entail border security measures, higher penalties for fentanyl offenses and reforms at the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD).

 “The governor has a unique opportunity to set a special session agenda that would allow Republicans and Democrats to work together and solve the problems New Mexicans are demanding the Legislature address,” said House Minority Leader Rep. Rod Montoya (R-1) in a statement. “Our constituents are growing tired of state government ignoring their calls to stop the revolving-door criminal justice system, secure our southern border, and protect those children who are abused and neglected.”

Legislation intended to strengthen the state’s Racketeering Act was introduced June 13 by Republican senators, intended for the special session. The bill would expand the list of crimes that can be prosecuted under the Act and increase sentencing for human sex trafficking and “sexual exploitation of children,” read a news release.

Senate Republican Leader Sen. Greg Baca (R-29) said similar proposals were blocked by the Democrat-controlled Legislature in previous sessions, but the issue should be taken up this year if the governor “is serious about public safety.”

“The New Mexico Senate Republicans remain steadfast in our commitment to making our communities safer,” Baca said.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 734-972-6855, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.