History
Founder & President
Christine L. Steele
I was a journalist and editor of small-town daily newspapers for 16 years. Nearly half of that time was spent managing two different newspapers in Southwestern New Mexico.
During my time as the editor of the Silver City Sun-News (June 2009-Dec. 2013, now defunct) and the Silver City Daily Press (Sept. 2016-Feb. 2019), I covered all manner of crime, from burglaries and domestic violence cases to violent assaults, sex abuse, child abuse, missing persons, and murder. A number of those murders and missing person cases went unsolved for many years. Over the course of my career, they began to add up.
The small town of Silver City (pop. 10,000), in remote Southwestern New Mexico, is surrounded by the Gila National Forest, which includes 3.3 million acres of pristine forest land and wilderness — and plenty of places to hide a body.
Silver City is a ranching and copper mining community known for its quaint, artsy downtown, "four gentle seasons” and a certain Old West corruption and lawlessness that allows crimes like this to go unsolved for decades.
The cases we are highlighting have languished for years with little to no progress or even acknowledgment that another year has passed and no justice has been done. Another year passed, and still no justice for these families.
I left my journalism career in 2019, but these victims and their families have never left me. I created Southern New Mexico Unsolved Murders in April 2021, after I read in the Silver City Daily Press that Grant County Crime Stoppers was disbanding and distributing the $30,000 it had sitting in its bank account — $30,000 that could have been used to provide rewards for these cases both when they first occurred, and in the many years that have passed.
We received a $2,000 grant from Grant County CrimeStoppers in August 2021. I don’t know where the remaining $28,000 went or if it was used for crime prevention or to help solve cases as it should have been.
Our goal is to keep these cases alive and raise funds to publicize them locally and nationally with the hope that some answers will eventually be uncovered and justice delivered. Southern New Mexico Unsolved Murders is not affiliated with any organization, media outlet, or law enforcement agency.
Donations are welcome. We are a registered nonprofit with the IRS and the State of New Mexico so your donations are tax-deductible.
We are raising money for the following:
An anonymous tip line through We Tip, a California-based organization that works with municipalities and law enforcement agencies to relay anonymous tips to help solve crimes. ($2,500yr.)
Full-page ads in the local newspaper on the anniversary of each unsolved murder or disappearance to remind people that these cases remain unsolved. ($609 per ad)
Printing bumper stickers, flyers, and T-shirts. ($500)
A billboard on Highway 180 between Hurley and Silver City. ($4,500yr.)
Rewards for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest in any of these cases and the location of the remains of David Ortiz Jr. and Toni Padilla. ($5,000 each)
Renewal of the domain name and website ($350yr), and the cost of obtaining any public records, including police reports, court documents, and reports from the Office of the New Mexico Medical Investigator, including autopsies, and toxicology and determination of death reports, and any other costs related to the investigation of these disappearances and unsolved murders.
Southern New Mexico Unsolved Murders is an all-volunteer organization. No board member or founder is paid any fees or salary or any money for their time.