Homicide not suspected, officials said

Local police want the public’s help in locating next of kin or extended family in a case involving a white male found dead about two weeks ago.

Joey Guillen, an investigator with the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office, said a person who was scouting elk in McGaffey on Aug. 11 discovered the body of 62-year-old Antel Takacs.

Guillen said the body was found along with what investigators believe to be Takacs’s car, which bore Arizona plates. The vehicle associated with the incident was a 1997 maroon four-door SUV.

Various papers and an identification card were also found at the scene.

“We are asking for the public’s help in notifying family...

DIRTY LAUNDRY

8/22, GALLUP

Gallup Police Department Officer Harland Soseeah was dispatched to a Laundromat at 2780 E. Hwy. 66 in reference to a male with a chainsaw who was trying to attack a female.

At the scene, Soseeah made contact with the crying victim who said she was pushed, kicked, and hit by Edwin Etcitty, 33. She said she’d been hostage at his home and was beaten up.

The victim said that when she and Etcitty went to the Laundromat, she asked customers for a phone to use, and when her husband noticed, he got mad and began to argue with her. Her parents arrived at this point, but Etcitty would not let her go with them.

When the victim went to the truck to get the...

Duo possessed meth, concealed identity

Two locals remained jailed Aug. 16 after being taken into custody on charges of drug possession; falsely obtaining service accommodations; concealing identity and resisting; and evading and obstruction charges, police officials said.

Nathan Lee, 22, of Gallup, and Delilah Miles, 31, of Church Rock, were jailed Aug. 10 after Gallup Police Department Officer Andrew Thayer responded to a call at the Knights Inn & Suites at 3208 W. Hwy 66 in reference to two individuals occupying a room under false pretenses.

According to Thayer’s report, a hotel desk clerk called police to say the original occupant of Room 223 checked out, but Lee and Miles...

Official: Details forthcoming

On Aug. 16, New Mexico State Police released the names of the four Gallup Police Department officers involved in a recent deadly shooting.

City police officers responded July 24 to a report involving a Native American male, identified as Alvin R. Sylversmythe, 30, who was threatening people with at least two knives at the Arnold Street public housing.

GPD officers were the first to respond to the scene.

The officers involved in the incident were: Justin Benally, a three-year departmental veteran; Clarissa Morgan, a five-year police veteran; Dominic Molina, a two-year city police employee; and Steven Peshlakai, a six-year department veteran.

“The...