Two held in Eldorado burglary

A man and woman who fled after a house-sitter discovered them burglarizing an Eldorado home Monday were arrested after the house-sitter managed to get the license number on their getaway car, according to court documents.

The house-sitter arrived at the home on Monte Alto Road to find a black Ford Mustang in the driveway and the front door broken open, according to a police report filed Tuesday in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court. She then confronted a 6-foot-tall man and a skinny woman she encountered in the living room.

The intruders, who each had jewelry in their hands, pushed past the house-sitter, got into the car and fled, the report says. The house-sitter, meanwhile, called 911, reported what happened and provided the car's license number. A Santa Fe County sheriff's deputy waited in the median of Interstate 25 for the car to pass on its way toward Santa Fe, pulled the car over and arrested the man and woman, the report states.

Deputies later found a large amount of jewelry in the car, the report says.

Jessica Ortiz, 21, and Joaquin Perea, 29, both of Santa Fe, were each charged with burglary, larceny and criminal damage to property.

Pilot died of exposure, injuries

A New Mexico State Police helicopter pilot died of hypothermia complicated by injuries he received in a crash during a mountain rescue mission, the state medical examiner's office said Tuesday.

The helicopter crashed last Tuesday in the mountains near Santa Fe during an attempted rescue of a lost hiker, Megumi Yamamoto of Toyko. She died along with Sgt. Andy Tingwall. Another crew member, state police Officer Wesley Cox, survived after spending the night in the helicopter's wreckage in cold, snowy conditions at about 12,000 feet.

Tingwall and Yamamoto were thrown from the helicopter in the crash, but Cox remained strapped into the fuselage, according to state police.

The state Office of the Medical Investigator's findings confirmed Tingwall survived the crash, while Yamamoto did not. Amy Boule, director of operations for the medical investigator's office, said it's uncertain how long Tingwall lived after the crash.

The medical investigator's office said Tingwall died from "environmental cold exposure complicated by multiple blunt force injuries" and that Yamamoto died of "multiple blunt force injuries." No other details were disclosed, but a full autopsy report will be released later.

Snow and high winds prevented an aerial search immediately after the helicopter crash, and aircraft couldn't fly in the mountains for most of the next day because of winds and heavy cloud cover.

Pecos River settlement fulfilled

Seven years and $64 million later, the Pecos River Settlement finally has been fulfilled.

The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer said a joint declaration filed with the 5th Judicial District Court in Chaves County shows all parties in a water dispute between Texas and New Mexico agree that settlement conditions have been substantially met.

The parties included the state, the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, the Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District , the Carlsbad Irrigation District and the federal government.

Texas won a lawsuit in which it claimed New Mexico farmers had taken more than their share of water under the Pecos River Compact.

Farmers on the Lower Pecos River and New Mexico water officials negotiated an agreement to cut water use while protecting senior water rights.

The New Mexico Legislature in 2002 authorized the Interstate Stream Commission to buy at least 13,000 acres of water rights in the Carlsbad, Roswell and Fort Sumner irrigation areas to fulfill the settlement. Those purchases will be completed by June 30, according to the state, which also developed wells to augment flows into Brantley Reservoir.



Staff and wire reports