Another rancher killed by an illegal alien? Not sure yet.
by Hugh Holub on Jun. 08, 2011, under border issues, politicsFrom the Las Cruces Sun News June 7, 2011:
Hidalgo County man shot to death
By Christine Steele Sun-News Bureau Chief
Posted: 06/07/2011 10:33:43 PM MDTSILVER CITY – Larry Link, the owner of Steins Ghost Town, was found shot to death early Tuesday morning on Summit Road in Hidalgo County.
State Police Public Information Officer Maj. Scott Weaver said they currently have no suspects and the investigation is ongoing. Examiner.com reported that Link, 68, was shot by an undocumented immigrant on his land, but that has not been verified by State Police or the Hidalgo County Sheriff.
Hidalgo County Commissioner Ed Kerr said there is undocumented immigrant and drug activity in the area where Link was killed.
“Last summer in August, I found five bundles of marijuana on my ranch land about 50 feet from the freeway. That can’t be more than eight or 10 miles from Larry’s,” he said. “They were scattered about. One was under the billboard, one was beside the fence. Illegals with empty backpacks had dropped their load. I-10 is, obviously, a connecting point. We’re getting a lot of traffic, more than what we’ve seen in the past couple of years. They have ultra-light planes flying out of Mexico and dropping off bundles and then illegals walking and picking them up.”
Three years ago, Kerr said, he found seven undocumented immigrants hiding in a culvert on his land off of Highway 338.
State Police aren’t releasing many details about Link’s murder, other than to say the shooting had to have occurred prior to 6:15 a.m. Tuesday and Link was found at No. 6 Summit Road, likely by a family member. HidalgoCounty Sheriff Saturnino Madero said one of his deputies was the first on the scene. Link was found near his truck. The Sheriff’s Office then turned the scene over to the State Police Investigative Unit.
Steins is that little ghost town just off Interstate 10 at the Arizona-New Mexico border.
It is on the north end of the drug smuggling and illegal entry corridor on the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains that runs from the border east of Douglas up to Interstate 10.
FromKRQE Albuquerque June 9, 2011
Cops: No sign illegal killed Steins man
Larry Link murdered in ghost town he owned
Updated: Thursday, 09 Jun 2011, 1:03 PM MDT
Published : Wednesday, 08 Jun 2011, 10:15 PM MDTReporter: Alex Tomlin
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – Did illegal immigrants gun down a well-known businessman in cold blood? His family and investigators spoke about the murder near the Mexican border.
Larry Link owned the former tourist hot spot, Steins Ghost Town, on Interstate 10 about 60 miles from the Mexico border.
His daughter, Pamela Link, said no one had a grudge against him, “He never had an enemy,” she said.
They are shocked that someone shot and murdered the 68-year-old Tuesday in Hidalgo County.
The tourist attraction once drew 90,000 people a year, but Link shut it down three years ago because of thieves and vandals.
Investigators said Link was found next to his car. He’d been shot twice.
“The whole world knew him as Uncle Larry; that’s how he introduced himself,” Link’s daughter said.
New Mexico State Police are investigating but aren’t giving any details. They have no suspects.
Shortly after the murder, the Internet was alive with bloggers claiming Link was gunned down by an illegal immigrant . Hidalgo County Commissioner Ed Kerr told the Las Cruces Sun News that undocumented illegals pick up and deliver drugs in the area.
Border Patrol agents said Wednesday there is no evidence illegal immigrants were involved in the murder.
Here is one of the blog stories KRQE is talking about….
New Mexico Rancher killed by Illegal Alien
Last Updated on Wednesday, 08 June 2011 04:43 Written by AZBDNews1 Tuesday, 07 June 2011 22:33
…Hidalgo County Sheriff Dept has confirmed that NM rancher, Larry Link, was murdered earlier today on his property. Sources are reporting that the rancher was responding to an alleged- illegal alien on his property at Stein’s Ghost Town when the he was gunned-down. The murder took place on the southwest side of the state near the AZ border on Interstate 10 at mile marker three. The Hidalgo Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the scene, only to find the rancher had already died.
COMMENT: As with a lot of these kinds of cases it takes a while to sort things out.
However the Border Patrol saying there weren’t any illegal aliens in the area is not definitive as far as I am concerned given the history of the shooting of agent Brian Terry and the attempt by the feds to stonewall that situation.
It is unfortunately very much in the political interest of DHS and the BP to downplay the role of illegal aliens and drug smugglers involved in criminal conduct so they can keep claiming the border is so much safer than it used to be…and thus it is time to proceed with immigration law reform.
My heart goes out to Larry’s family….the last thing one wants to deal with in the time of a personal tragedy is to get caught up in the political storm about border security.
But if it turns out to be true that Link’s murder is tied to illegal entry or drug smuggling….the political firestorm is inescapable.
June 8th, 2011 on 7:54 pm
Love Steins and stop there often……So sad about this story….I got a years pay ridin’ on the truth revealing that this is the work of some drug cartel dog……Someone needs to make Mexico pay for this spill-over from their lawless, immoral country……
June 9th, 2011 on 6:49 am
Someone needs to make Mexico pay for this spill-over from their lawless, immoral country……
With more than 30,000 dead in the cartel wars, I’d say the people of Mexico have paid dearly.
June 9th, 2011 on 6:41 am
Time to shoot back.
June 9th, 2011 on 2:35 pm
I’m surpised Obama isn’t all over this with guns a blazin’! The guy is war monger no. 1. He makes Bush look like a piker. Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemin. What the hell, add Mexico to the list.