Body recovered from gorge could be tied to homicide
Effort to extract remains was delayed for weeks by weather conditions
TAOS — A recovery crew hiked below the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge on Thursday and retrieved a body that had been spotted near the river in early January.
While the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator has not yet identified the remains, Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said a tattoo on the man’s leg matched a description of a tattoo on Donald Ayon, who was reported missing in Alamosa, Colo., last month and is tied to a homicide investigation there.
The Taos County Sheriff ’s Office had found Ayon’s car in a rest area parking lot at the bridge.
An effort to extract the body from the gorge was delayed for weeks by weather conditions.
Ayon’s connection with the homicide investigation in Alamoso remains unclear.
The Alamosa Police Department issued a news release Jan. 6 that said a woman, who the agency did not identify, had been found dead at 321 Edison Ave. in Alamosa. The department later said the body recovery mission in Taos, which had been delayed by recent snowstorms that rendered emergency routes below the bridge impassable, was of interest in the investigation.
Earlier this week, Alamosa police Chief Ken Anderson declined to comment on how the woman’s homicide and the death in the canyon 80 miles south might be linked.
But shortly after the Alamosa woman was found dead, a missing
person notice for Ayon was disseminated.
Ayon’s mother told The Taos News last month she feared her son might be the person below the bridge, but she did not mention the recent homicide in Alamosa.
Taos County sheriff ’s deputies had to abandon a body recovery mission Jan. 10. Snow fell that day, and harsh winds funneled through the canyon.
Taos County Undersheriff
Steve Miera, who had joined a crew of deputies on the unsuccessful mission, said they had no choice but to turn back.
As with all recovery missions in the dangerous gorge when a life isn’t at stake, Miera said, the safety of the recovery crew is a greater priority for him than speed.
A version of this story first appeared in The Taos News, a sister publication of the Santa Fe New Mexican.