Deputy Sheriff Juan Leo Ortiz, 33, was shot dead at his ranch in Rociada near Maestas Canyon on Sunday, September 17, 1978. Ortiz, a San Miguel County deputy, had been involved three weeks earlier in a confrontation in the Santa Fe National Forest where he shot and killed a man who allegedly had aimed a rifle at him while the man and others were reportedly harassing campers.

Ortiz was off duty the day he died and was due to resign from the department the next day. From about 200 yards away a hidden shooter using a .300 caliber rifle fired at him; the assailant escaped and was never identified. Investigators concluded the killing was retaliatory for the earlier shooting, but no suspect has been apprehended and the case went cold. Ortiz was survived by his wife and four children.

Did anyone who knew Ortiz or his family, or who spent time in the Rociada area in 1978, see or hear anything that could help reopen this case?