Officials seek slain woman’s family

Española police are still looking for relatives of a woman who was shot and killed early Saturday morning by a man who said he was trying to scare off a suspected prowler.

Española police arrested Douglas Smith, 68, Saturday on a charge of second-degree murder, accusing him of shooting and killing the woman outside his home on the property of a motel he operates on North Riverside Drive.

Newly hired Española police Chief Louis Carlos, a retired captain with the Santa Fe Police Department who stepped into the job Saturday, confirmed the woman was from Española but said finding her relatives has been challenging.

“We are looking for her next of kin before we release her identity,” he said Sunday. “We know she has an address in Española but it’s about finding her family. We are reaching out to some of the local pueblos, because she may be a member of one of the local pueblos.”

Smith called 911 to report the death. He told police that when he fired the shots, he hoped to frighten off a prowler who he thought was burglarizing a camper.

Instead, he hit the woman twice in the forehead, according to a criminal complaint, and she died on the scene. Smith was booked into the Rio Arriba County jail in Tierra Amarilla around noon Saturday. Carlos said Smith was still there Sunday night.