NM sheriff suspects drug cartels in slayings

The Rio Arriba County Sheriff says he believes the recent execution-style slayings of two men and the case of two other men found dead in a burned out trailer are linked to Mexican drug cartels. Sheriff Tommy Rodella says one of two men found dead in the burned trailer in Medanales on Dec. 21 was a suspect in the double murder 11 days earlier in Hernandez. Those bodies were also found in a mobile home that had been set on fire. Rodella says the slayings have all the earmarks of a Mexican cartel hit. "There was drugs involved," he said. "And I think because of the level of drug dealing that has been going on now for some time I think that is indicative that the (cartels) are here. The thing is, that this isn't the first case where someone has been murdered and burned. That sends a hell of a message." Rodella says 20-year-old Tomas J. Sanchez was one of two people found dead inside the burned trailer. He says he was the top suspect in the Dec. 10 deaths of 53-year-old Matthew Maestas and 47-year-old Joseph Eugene Valdez, both of whom has been shot five times before their trailer was set on fire...more