Police question man in connection to 2019 killing of Aaron Chapman

A Santa Fe police SWAT team converged on a west-side home early one morning late last week in search of a man who might be tied to the September 2019 slaying of Aaron Chapman, Deputy Chief Paul Joye confirmed Tuesday.

Chapman, 37, was found dead under the Guadalupe Street Bridge near De Vargas Park, and the homicide remains unsolved.

No on has been named as a suspect, and no charges have been filed in the case.

Officers executed a search warrant Friday at a home in the 1800 block of Paseo de la Conquistadora, but they have released little other information about the operation.

Joye also declined to provide many details about the warrant Tuesday because it is part of an active and ongoing investigation, he said, and also because the man police were seeking is not necessarily a suspect.

While the man was not at the home when police arrived, the deputy chief said officers found him down the street, walking back toward the home from another residence. He has not been charged with a crime, Joye said.

Police said Chapman died from blunt force trauma and was believed to be homeless at the time of his death.

Officers found DNA near where Chapman was killed during their investigation, Joye said. “The search warrant was to: A) to confirm who the DNA belonged to, and then B) talk to the individual about what they were doing in the area, why their DNA was in the area.”

Officers use DNA to identify suspects as well as to eliminate suspects, Joye said.

A man at a home on Paseo de la Conquistadora on Tuesday said officers served the warrant at his house early Friday morning. The person they were looking for was not there at the time, the man said. He declined to give his name.