On Thanksgiving night, November 29, 1996, in Farmington, New Mexico, 18-year-old Matthew Trecker was murdered while working at a counter-culture store called The Eclectic. A coworker, 25-year-old Joseph Flemming, was killed in the same attack. Both men were assaulted with swords and knives and had their throats slashed, injuries described as unusually savage and suggesting a motive beyond simple robbery.

Years later an accomplice, Harold Pollock, confessed and identified Robert Fry as the primary assailant. Investigators concluded Fry killed the two men to eliminate witnesses to a burglary at the store. The morning after the killings Fry approached Matthew’s mother, Christina Trecker, offered to buy her breakfast, and said he and Pollock were the last to see her son alive.

Robert Fry, previously serving a life term for a 1998 murder and facing a death sentence for a 2000 killing, was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of Matthew Trecker and Joseph Flemming and received two consecutive life sentences, along with convictions for larceny, tampering with evidence, and intimidation of a witness.

If anyone knew Matthew, Joseph, or their routines at The Eclectic, or remembers unusual activity in Farmington around late November 1996, please share what you know.