A police search of a burned house trailer in Medanales where the remains of two people were found Dec. 21 turned up parts of or ammunition for a few guns, according to documents filed in state District Court.
A State Police officer's affidavit used to obtain a warrant to search the trailer's ruins also says that on the morning after the late-night fire, investigators from the State Fire Marshal's Office su ggested that the fire had burned too hot to have been a "natural fire."
Both the Fire Marshal's Office and the State Police have been tight-lipped about the fire. They haven't said how investigators believe the blaze started and whether it appears to have been arson, and haven't provided identifications or causes of death for the two people whose remains were found in the charred debris.
But last week, Rio Arriba County Sheriff Tommy Rodella said he suspects that one man believed to have died in the Medanales fire - identified by Rodella as Tomas J. Sanchez, 20 - was involved in an "execution-style" double homicide in another trailer that was burned just 11 days earlier in nearby Hernandez.
Rodella said Matthew Maestas, 53, and Joseph Eugene Valdez, 47, who were found dead together Dec. 10 in the trailer in Hernandez, were each shot multiple times before the home, where Maestas resided, was set ablaze. Rodella said it appeared the Hernandez fire was set to cover up evidence.
Rodella also said the four recent deaths "have all the markings of the Mexican cartel."
Rodella's off ice is in charge of investigating the Hernandez case and the State Police is handling the Medanales case. The two scenes are about six miles apart off the same highway.
According to court documents, the following items were found when the State Police searched the Medanales fire scene: "remains of rifle bolt/lever with barrel;" "shotgun remains," including "receiver/barrel and mag Remington 870 12 gauge;" a "partial shotgun hull;" a "burned/ melted semi-auto pistol" of unknown make; "case 9mm Ruger ruptured;" and a .22 caliber casing, from a Mazda on the property.
Also collected were two lighters.
In the search warrant affidavit, State Police Agent William Terrazas wrote that two fire marshals at the Medanales scene the morning after the fire weren't able to determine if accelerants were used to torch the trailer
But Terrazas added that the fire marshals said "there are no natural sources of fuel in a residence in the living room" - in this case located at the center of the trailer, the part of the home that burned the most - "to cause a fire to burn hot enough to warp the trailer's frame."
"The only usual natural sources of fuel in the living room consist of a television, couches, chairs, etc.," the officer's statement continues. "Fire Marshals advised (that) usually a natural fire burns hottest in the bedrooms because of the bed and clothing that burns."
The statement also said one body was found severely burned with the skull visible and with wire springs on top of the body.
No comment was available Wednesday from the Fire Marshal's Office or the State Police.
Copyright 2013 Albuquerque Journal
