A fireman sprays foam to retard the fire inside the already charred bus. Officials of the El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine Express Inc. said Thursday afternoon they could not comment on the cause of the fire. The parts of brakes and chunks of rubber were found up to a mile away from the scene. The bus was southbound on Interstate 25 about five miles south of the Williamsburg exit Sunday afternoon when the bus driver was motioned by a truck driver that something was wrong and then detected smoke and fire. He stopped the bus on the shoulder and all of the52 passengers, including some children, got out safely in time before the fire spread and charred the bus to its frame. The passengers were taken to the Williamsburg Fire Hall where they waited for a replacement bus.                   Photos by Bill Johnson

‘I hate you,’ daughter tells mom-killing dad

Lee Uecker sentenced to 29 years
in prison for murdering his wife

 By Bill Johnson & Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

After District Judge Thomas Fitch sentenced wife-killer Lee W. Uecker to 29 years in prison at a hearing last Friday in Socorro, his 12-year-old daughter told him she hated him and never wanted to see him again.

Uecker, 44, of Truth or Consequences, had just pled guilty to the second degree murder of his estranged wife, Jeanine “Jenny” M. Uecker, 41, of 818 Pershing St., on Jan. 29 this year.

He allegedly struck her head and body repeatedly with a claw hammer in his backyard at 1007 N. Caballo Road, then put her body in the trunk of her car.

The 1995 Buick soon became an incendiary tomb after he poured gasoline onto it and set it ablaze near the Elephant Butte dirt dam just a couple miles away, leaving her remains unrecognizable to the degree she had to be identified with her dental records.

Speaking on Uecker’s behalf at the plea and disposition hearing July 6, Uecker’s attorney Jesse Cosby told the court that Uecker killed his wife after his wife (purportedly) left him for a woman.

“He killed her because he didn’t want her homosexuality to be passed onto their daughter,” Cosby said, then explaining he was speaking for his client because of his eighth grade education.

After the hearing, according to a witness, Uecker’s daughter, 12-year-old Sarah, spoke directly in Uecker’s face, “I hope you’re happy. You have taken the one thing that meant the most to me. I hate you. I will always hate you and I will never love you again.”

Uecker just stood there crying and said, “I understand,” the witness said.

According to a source close to the family, who also spoke only on conditions of anonymity, Jenny Uecker left her husband after he allegedly struck their daughter with his fist. The source said that up to that point in time Lee Uecker was always verbally abusive towards his family and never had an encouraging word for his daughter, that he always put her down and made abusive remarks towards her.

She said the lesbian references that Uecker made toward Jenny were frequent and usually came when he was on a drinking binge and she would spend time with her female friends, thus making all of them… hocus pocus - …lesbians.

“Because we spent time together we were said to be lesbians,” she said.

“The Uecker family has a huge reputation with drugs and alcohol and they have been known for domestic abuse,” the confidential source said, adding that both Lee Uecker and his brothers alike were subjected to abuse while they were children.

“When Lee was about eight years old, his father came home very drunk. They lived on the river in T or C, he had Lee stand on the dock and he at the top of the hill with a pistol would shoot things off the top of Lee’s head. If Lee wouldn’t do it, he would then get beaten. I have heard they would literally get kicked in the buttocks with pointed cowboy boots and even worse things,” she said.

She said Lee Uecker constantly threatened and intimidated his spouse, causing her to live in constant fear. The friend said she managed to talk Jenny into leaving Lee.

“She finally got up this courage and started living a better life for herself and her daughter -- until he killed her,” she said.

“This situation has nothing to do with being straight or gay or anything but a sheer angry man – angry at himself and life in general,” she said.

Homophobia, the fear of homosexuals or homosexuality, according to Jenny’s friend, is not an excuse for murder in this case.

She said Lee Uecker never went to functions involving Sarah but that Jenny spent as much of her time with her daughter as possible and always tried to build up Sarah’s self-esteem to undo the emotional harm and mental damage her father tried to inflict on her.

Others who knew Jenny also knew she had her daughter’s best interest at heart. Perhaps she was a little over-protective over Sarah, but that’s to be understood, especially in cases of chronic domestic violence, abuse or neglect.

“I felt that pleading the case as we did was beneficial to the family, sparing their 12-year-old daughter from testifying and with no appeals possible (for Lee Uecker). The family can go on to repairing their lives,” Deputy District Attorney June Stein said.

Under the plea and disposition agreement, Uecker pleaded guilty to second degree murder with aggravation and first degree attempted kidnapping. Judge Fitch respectively passed a prison sentence of 15 years for the murder charge, five years for the aggravated circumstances and nine years for the attempted kidnapping, a second degree felony - all three terms to be served consecutively.

None of the sentence will be suspended or deferred, the agreement states. Also, the charge of tampering with evidence is dismissed.

Uecker possibly could become eligible for parole but only after serving a full 22 years of his prison sentence. When released, he will be subjected to paying restitution with the amount to be determined by Adult Probation and Parole.

Until then, he will have ample time to think about the horrible, dastardly deed he did.

It all began when Jenny, a former legal secretary and Minnesota native, was summoned to her separated husband’s home to pick up what she thought would be a present for Sarah.

Uecker, however, used deceit to lure Jenny to his home on a late Monday afternoon so he could commit the crime of kidnapping for the purpose of murdering her, according to prosecutor Stein.

Elephant Butte State Park employees Juan Maestas and Isaac Mercure were first on the scene of the burning four-door car, not knowing someone’s body was about to be cremated.

Near the car that night they saw Uecker and when he walked around it and emerged on the other side, he too was engulfed in flames. Uecker would spend the next month or so at the University of New Mexico Hospital recovering from his second and third degree burns, which covered about 40 percent of his body including his head, neck, entire back, arms and hands. A first responder said Uecker burnt his hands from taking off his burning shirt.

Uecker told the park personnel and other witnesses that no other occupants were with him at the time, but he later stated that his wife was in the car and she did not get out. A search of the vehicle and surrounding area, however, did not reveal any additional passengers, state police said.

But after the T or C and Williamsburg fire departments extinguished the car fire in an hour or two - the car reduced to its frame - firemen popped the trunk open and inside it found a burnt human corpse.

An investigation revealed that the vehicle had traveled off State Road 195 and apparently overturned coming to rest right side up off the north side of the highway. The car laid down an embankment about 50 feet from the roadway. A gas can also laid near the burnt vehicle.

Jenny Uecker was last heard from at 3:30 p.m. when she called the baby sitter, Nevada Talkington, to inform her she was on her way to Lee’s home to pick up a present for Sarah.

At 4 p.m., Lee’s sister Diane Asbell saw Jenny’s Buick parked at Lee’s home on Caballo Road. Asbell told police her brother and Mrs. Uecker were still married but had separated last September or October.

Asbell told police her brother had phoned his mother, Oriet Uecker, to tell her that he loved her – which was out of character or normal behavior for Lee.

It was also learned that Uecker possibly was planning for his suicide or even for a long prison term as he had signed his property over to his mother.

The face of Jenny Uecker, who had worked in shipping and receiving at Furr’s supermarket in T or C until last October, now graces the wall of her latest employer, Xochi’s Book Store & Gallery, on Broadway. Her radiant smile in a painting by Bernardo tells the people to end domestic violence.

But her message apparently went unnoticed in a community where the incidence of murder now exceeds the national average by nearly 20 fold.

Jenny was the first of five homicide victims to die this year in Sierra County as the result of domestic violence. The shocking deaths of the other four (apparently quadruple homicide of wife and three daughters ages 8, 10 and 12, and a suicide, all credited to the husband and father) – the Snyder family of Palomas Creek near San Miguel – occurred just last Sunday at their home.

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Jenny Uecker’s portrait by Bernardo appears on the wall of her employer, Xochi’s Book Store & Gallery on Broadway, as a reminder to all to end domestic violence once and for all.
Photo by Bill Johnson

Five dead in shocking incident:
man turns gun on family, then self

Sierra County’s homicide rate
exceeds national average 20 fold

By Bill Johnson of the Desert Journal

Tragedy struck Sierra County again – this time near the tiny ranching community of San Miguel on Las Palomas Creek about 10 miles west of Truth or Consequences.

And today (Friday, July 13) the Snyder family of five will be put to eternal rest with memorial services planned at 2 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Datil, NM, about an hour’s drive west of Socorro on State Highway 60.

Sunday afternoon state police were called out to investigate a mother’s discovery of her daughter, her daughter’s husband and their three young daughters – all dead inside their mobile home with gunshots to their heads.

According to state police homicide agents, Wesley C. Snyder, 42, used a 9 m.m. gun to fire a round in the head of his wife, Ruth Ann, 38, then fired two rounds in each head of his three daughters, Corrie Lynn, 8, Kyla Sue, 10, and Holly Marie, 12, before shooting himself.

No one can seem to explain why “a nice guy” would kill his entire family and then himself after a domestic squabble Saturday night. One of the family’s friends suggested Wesley Snyder, a rancher whose daughters were home schooled, was severely depressed.

The bodies were discovered by Ruth Snyder’s mother, Beverly Farr, who lives only a football field’s length away from the home, on Sunday morning upon a visit.

The adults were found in the home’s kitchen and living room area, one child was found in the hallway and the other two girls were in their bedroom, state police said. All were taken to the Office of the Medical Investigator for an autopsy.

Sgt. Rich Libicer of NMSP said Wesley and Ruth Snyder argued the last time they were seen about 8:15 p.m. Saturday.

Wesley Snyder may have been drunk when he shot his wife and three daughters before turning the gun on himself. Police said toxicology reports, such as blood alcohol content, on Snyder’s body are expected to be completed by end of the week.

The quadruple homicide and suicide pushed the death count from homicides (excluding the suicide, plus three previous homicides) to seven so far this year in Sierra County.

The national average for murders and non-negligent homicides is 5.7 incidents per 100,000 population, according to the FBI’s 1999 Uniform Crime Report statistics.

With seven homicides in the first six months plus eight days of this calendar year, Sierra County’s homicide rate - based on a total population of about 12,000 (and if the rate of incidents continue through the last half of the year, for a total of 14 incidents) - is some 117 incidents per 100,000 population – exceeding the national average by about 20.5 fold.

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Cows ain’t talkin’ – These cows turn their backs to the Desert Journal in its quest late Monday afternoon for directions to the blood bath on Las Palomas Creek near the small ranching community of San Miguel.
Photo by Bill Johnson

Pro and anti wolf factions agree:
open house meeting was useless

By Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

The Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program’s community open house at the Truth or Consequences Civic Center Wednesday evening drew a good crowd both of ranchers and others opposed to the recovery program and of pro-wolf environmentalists and fellow travelers.

But what was expected to be a meeting and a discussion turned out to be only an exhibition - not of bread and circuses but of cookies and pamphlets.

Charts were displayed, glossy recovery program promotional posters and gobs of literature were available to anybody who wanted to take the stuff home. Wolf pelts also were on display - one woman said they’d look nice on her bed.

The open house afforded little opportunity for those on either side of the wolf issue to voice their opinions but comment sheets were provided. Perhaps by design, recovery program team members didn’t have to hear it.

“People came expecting discussion, feedback, questions and immediate answers,” a rancher said. The question many seemed to have on their minds was, “Is this it?”

As for the recovery program itself, the rancher said she thinks it has been unsuccessful and wishes it wasn’t happening. She said wolves don’t belong here and that she’d feel the same way even if she wasn’t a rancher but only a camper and outdoor person.

The rancher said she drove two hours to attend, another said she drove three and a half hours.

Pro-wolfers, many living in town and a respectful distance from any wolf, didn’t have to drive, or bicycle, so far to attend but also were disappointed with the open house format.

One wolf sympathizer said he expected a forum in which he could hear opinions both for and against the recovery program. He said a lot of time, effort and advertisement money went into it and that all he got was a tabletop display.

Supporting the recovery program he said the value of having wolves in their native habitat outweighs the loss of few cows and that the damage caused by over-grazing also should be taken into account.

The pro-wolfer said ranchers are operating from emotion rather than reason and asked when was the last time a wolf killed a human being. He said it’s time we grew up and realized that Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf is a fairy tale.

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T or C man recovering
from heavy blows to head

By Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

A young Truth or Consequences man, who was rumored to have died, is in serious but stable condition in an El Paso hospital after being battered at a house party in T or C last Friday night.

Officer Todd Craig of the T or C Police Department reported that when he responded to a fight at 525 E. 2nd Street at 12:47 a.m. Saturday, Eric de Baca, 21, had blood all over his face and upper body, was having difficulty breathing and was coughing up blood. Craig observed what appeared to be a bite mark on de Baca’s left arm.

De Baca was rushed to Sierra Vista Hospital and later transported by military helicopter to El Paso’s Thomason Hospital where he underwent neural surgery having sustained fractures to his skull and cheekbone.

De Baca and another man began to drink at the party, then argue and then fight in the living room, according to a witness’s statement to police. The fight continued into the kitchen and ended at the bathroom door, the witness said.

But another version of the story provided by witnesses, TCPD Detective and investigating officer Jim Starr said Wednesday, is that one man simply “jumped and thrashed” de Baca.

Starr said none of the witnesses would identify de Baca’s assailant. “People at the house knew who was responsible but none of de Baca’s ‘friends’ want to come forward,” Starr said.

Craig reported that witnesses saw the battery but that no one attempted to stop it.

Starr said the suspect or suspects appeared to have fled before officers arrived but that he hasn’t ruled out the possibility that someone still present had battered de Baca.

Starr said he doesn’t know who battered de Baca but that the investigation will continue until the assailant is located and charged and that he expects charges to be filed against other responsible individuals.

Starr said any weapon that may have been used against de Baca is unknown to police at this time and that he won’t know if the incident was gang-related until he interviews a suspect.

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EB voters approve beer and wine
licenses and Sunday sales of liquor

 Desert Journal Staff Report

Voters in the City of Elephant Butte by huge margins approved Tuesday two issues revolving around the issuance of beer and wine licenses to restaurants and Sunday sales of liquor by the drink for consumption on the licensed premises.

Voters on the first question, “Shall restaurant licenses for the sale of beer and wine be approved within the municipality of Elephant Butte?” passed the measure by a margin of 10-1 with 229 in favor and only 25 opposed, according to the unofficial election results.

On the second question, “Shall the Sunday sale of liquor by the drink for consumption on the licensed premises be allowed within the municipality,” Elephant Butte voters by a margin of 7-1 passed the measure with 221 for and only 32 against.

The election results are expected to become official today (Friday, July 13) when the city council and canvassing board meet at 1 p.m. to canvass the votes from the July 10 special election.

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