Pamela Sue Barker, a white woman living under the name Michelle Lynn Pearson as part of the federal witness protection program, was found dead in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, in April 1981. Her body had been bludgeoned with a hammer and then set on fire in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence.

Her common-law husband, Marion Albert Pruett, later became the focus of a multi-state investigation after a violent crime spree across several states. Arrested in Texas with a .38-caliber revolver and stolen license plates, Pruett admitted at his New Mexico trial that he robbed Barker to support a severe cocaine habit but denied killing her. A jury convicted him of Barker’s murder and sentenced him to life in prison for that crime; he received additional sentences, including a death sentence in another state, and was executed in Arkansas on April 12, 1999.

Did anyone in Rio Rancho at the time have contacts or memories of Barker or the couple that might help fill gaps about her final days?