On October 11 at 8:45 a.m., Officer Gabe Valdez of the New Mexico State Police contacted the district attorney's office in Espanola and told the assistant district attorney, Sam Quintana, that a "classic" mutilation had occurred in Dulce the night before. (Don Hannah of the New Mexico State Police Crime Laboratory later reported that Officer Valdez had told him the incident had occurred the previous weekend.)
Quintana informed Valdez that I was in Silver City investigating another cattle mutilation, but that he would furnish the information to coordinating secretary, Diana Moyle. Moyle then contacted me and I instructed her to immediately call the state police crime laboratory and request that personnel be sent immediately to Dulce to assist in the investigation. I felt such an action was warranted since Officer Valdez had determined the mutilation was a "classic." I then proceeded to the scene at Dulce, accompanied by district attorney investigator, Cipriano Padilla.
While I was enroute, Officer Valdez contacted the coordinating secretary and told her he had learned that I and personnel from the state police crime laboratory were on our way to Dulce. Valdez said that the owner of the mutilated animal did not want the crime laboratory nor any investigative team headed by me to enter her property to conduct an investigation for fear of publicity. The officer said he had just contacted the state police crime laboratory and had cancelled their trip. He advised Moyle to radio this information to me. After learning about the change in plans, I decided it best to cancel the proposed investigation.
Four months later, during a conversation with Officer Valdez on February 26, 1980, he referred to this incident and again stated that the owner had not wanted the mutilation investigated. I consider it unfortunate that the owner's fear about publicity led her to reject our offer to investigate the incident. I thought it was generally known that I was not releasing any information to the media concerning any investigation I was conducting.
Interestingly, in regards to the media, Officer Valdez has been one of the more outspoken individuals on cattle mutilations. He has taken a special interest in this mutilation phenomenon, and is probably one of New Mexico's foremost proponents of the theory that many of these cattle deaths and subsequent mutilations are engineered by humans. His articulate reports have frequently captured the favor of the press, which places a premium on attention-getting news.
During our conversation, Officer Valdez stated that since my project began, he has investigated several other reported mutilations. However, since none were "classic mutilations," he decided not to report them to me. However, he assured me that if he learned of any other mutilations that appeared to be "classic" cases, he would immediately protect the crime scene and contact, me so that I could conduct an investigation.
It should also be noted that during this interview, Valdez admitted to me that he realized that a tremendous amount of misinformation has been circulated regarding cattle mutilations. Nevertheless, he stated he was certain that the ones that had occurred in Dulce were all "classics." This is a strange comment coming from an individual who, at Senator Schmitt's hearing, had testified that there had been 90 cattle mutilations in New Mexico. Officer Valdez then said he would furnish me with all the information he had collected on cattle mutilations in order to assist with this project. To date, not one piece of material has been received.