Officials quiet on probe of Carson obelisk
Six months after pickup abandoned at destroyed courthouse monument, no charges have been filed
When a 20-foot sandstone obelisk was damaged under the cover of night last August, there was no shortage of obvious physical evidence: a white GMC pickup and cables that reportedly helped pull down part of the structure were abandoned at the scene.
But more than six months later, an investigation by federal agents has not resulted in any criminal charges. The monument in downtown Santa Fe, dedicated in 1885 to honor Western frontiersman Kit Carson, is encased in a plywood box — almost unnoticed as people enter the nearby U.S. District Courthouse or walk toward the post office next door.
Federal officials won’t answer questions about the case, calling it an open investigation, though they confirm no charges have been filed. Santa Fe police and Federal Protective Service agents arrived to the scene on the evening of Aug. 31, 2023, in the moments after the monument was felled, but city police have directed questions about the investigation to the federal agency, which is organized within the Department of Homeland Security.
Located only a few blocks from the stump of the Soldiers’ Monument, pulled down during a demonstration on the Plaza in broad daylight in 2020, speculation over the fate of the Carson obelisk has been relatively muted. The same goes for controversy: Unlike the Plaza obelisk, which unleashed a torrent of emotion that simmers to this day, reactions have been sparse.
Louis Carlos, a retired police officer and former candidate for Santa Fe’s City Council, said he began his own investigation into the vandalism of the Carson obelisk the night it happened. He said he has one question for federal agents about their probe: “What’s taking so long?”
“They had viable information, but it is unknown if they conducted any interviews or interrogations with the owner of the truck — I identified her immediately,” said Carlos, who now works as a private investigator. “They haven’t answered the public’s questions about their investigation.
“It is unfortunate that a federal agency doesn’t communicate with the citizens they serve,” he later added. “They hide behind the iron curtain of ‘no comment.’ ”
Exactly what’s next for the Carson obelisk is just as opaque. Decision-making on its future lies with the U.S. General Services Administration, which is reticent to say when or if the monument will be restored. A spokesman for the agency wrote in an email no decisions had been made, though he added the GSA was engaging with others to receive input in accordance with federal law.
Spokesman Jorge Pineda wrote the agency hosted “two government-to-government listening sessions with Pueblos, Tribes and Nations that have ancestral homelands and/or a cultural affiliation in New Mexico,” but did not provide more details in response to an inquiry about who attended the listening sessions or what kind of input the agency has received relating to the monument.
Pineda wrote the agency will “continue gathering input under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act that mandates federal agencies to actively seek and take into account public opinions before making any potential alterations to the monument.”
He did not provide details or a timeline for the agency’s plans for identifying stakeholders or charting a path forward.
The federal courthouse in Santa Fe was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and the federal law Pineda referred to requires the agency to “assess the effects of the undertaking on the resources in consultation with interested parties and establish if they are adverse.”
State Historic Preservation Officer Jeff Pappas said his agency will be a part of the process and is required to evaluate the federal agencies’ plans for the obelisk site.
The state Historic Preservation Division has not received word of any plans, Pappas said.
Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber said in a recent interview his position on the Kit Carson obelisk remains unchanged from his previous public statements about it: In 2020, he said he believed the monument should be removed, yet he called the vandalism in August “cowardly” and expressed hopes that whoever was responsible would be caught and charged.
“It’s part of our history, and we ought to learn from it,” Webber said, “but I don’t think that monument belongs in public displayed as it currently is.” At the same time, he added, “toppling monuments is never in the public’s interest — it doesn’t promote respectful dialogue or bring people together.”
Webber said the city has not heard from any federal officials about plans for the monument.
Once a revered figure in New Mexico, Carson has undergone a reassessment in recent years, particularly from Native groups pointing to his role in the treatment of members of the Navajo Nation and other tribes in the 19th century.
Some groups have called for reconsideration of monuments, schools and other honors dedicated to Carson amid such calls for a reckoning with violent histories across the country. Navajo Nation delegate Mark Freeland put forth a proposal in 2021 to change the many streets, parks and monuments named after Carson throughout New Mexico.
“Carson and his troops terrorized the Navajo people by burning crops, destroying homes, and slaughtering and killing livestock,” Freeland wrote in the bill, adding thousands of Navajos died during a forced relocation in the 1860s to Bosque Redondo, near Fort Sumner in the eastern part of the state.
In the years after the destruction of the Soldiers’ Monument on the Plaza, the Carson structure had occasionally been the site of vandalism. In 2022, graffiti was painted on the box that had been constructed to surround its base.
The final act of vandalism came in August, just before Fiesta de Santa Fe and immediately after the Santa Fe school board narrowly voted to allow the Fiesta Court to continue visiting public schools during school hours. Supporters of the Fiesta Court visits, including many Hispanics, called them a celebration of heritage, while some Indigenous commenters said school Fiesta activities glorify colonialism.
No one was injured when the obelisk was toppled, police said. The suspect or suspects fled on foot. A man who did not want to be identified told a New Mexican reporter he came upon the scene as the monument was being torn down and parked his vehicle in front of the GMC pickup, boxing it in.
Not long after the incident, nearly a half-dozen law enforcement vehicles — mostly Santa Fe police but including one federal Department of Homeland Security truck — were at the scene.
In September, a man was shot and wounded in Española during a protest over the installation of a statue of Juan de Oñate in front of the Rio Arriba County complex. Ryan Martinez of Sandia Park faces a charge of attempted murder following the shooting.