Body found in the midtown area

Santa Fe police were investigating the discovery of a body Monday afternoon at a homeless encampment in the midtown area.

Resident Twila Stephenson said she spotted the body lying face down in a field behind a storage facility, down a narrow dirt lane off the 3400 block of Cerrillos Road. When she saw the person was not moving, she called police at about 2 p.m.

Police units were still at the scene in the late afternoon. Santa Fe Police Department Capt. Paul Joye said foul play was not suspected. The death was not believed to be connected to the killing of a homeless man near the Santa Fe River downtown Sunday.

Police spokesman Greg Gurulé said in an email late Monday that “there are quite a few homeless camps in the area,” and the deceased was a man who was found with drug paraphernalia nearby.

Stephenson and another neighbor said the small encampment has been a fixture during the summer months, and this year more people have pitched tents there. There were maybe a half-dozen people living nearby — partying but not causing trouble.

But on Monday, they said the tents were gone.

“It just breaks my heart to see people … they look homeless, they look downtrodden,” Stephenson said. “I’m sitting here just praying. That’s all I can do, just pray.”