On October 28, 2014, 29-year-old Santa Fe County deputy Jeremy Martin was fatally shot at the Hotel Encanto in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Martin and his partner, 27-year-old deputy Tai Chan, had been on a work trip and checked into a seventh-floor room after dropping off a prisoner at an Arizona prison. The two visited several restaurants and consumed alcohol, and witnesses reported a heated argument that continued back at the hotel.

The dispute escalated when Chan, armed with what is believed to be his duty weapon, chased Martin and opened fire as Martin tried to enter an elevator. Martin was found bleeding profusely in the hotel lobby just after midnight from multiple gunshot wounds to his back and arms. Chan was located in a stairwell near the hotel roof and taken into custody; he was charged with an open count of murder. Martin left behind a pregnant wife, Sarah Martin, and three young children aged 4, 9, and 11.

Two trials of Tai Chan ended in hung juries and the case was later dismissed on July 29, 2020. What details about that night or the investigation might help explain how a routine work trip turned deadly?