Documents / FOIA release
This FBI file section compiles New Mexico State Police reports by Officer Gabe Valdez on 1978 cattle mutilations at Manuel Gomez's ranch near Dulce, a Los Alamos laboratory letter calling tissue findings inconclusive, and a December 1978 letter from Senator Harrison Schmitt asking the Justice Department to reopen an investigation. It also includes a Justice Department request that the FBI investigate 15 mutilations on Indian lands, and a report on an April 1979 Albuquerque conference that recommended central coordination of mutilation data.
“New Mexico State Police”10 pages
COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS # United States Senate WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510 SELECT COMMITTEE ON LTHICS December 21,1978 The Honorable Griffin B. Bell Attorney General Department of Justice 10th and Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 RECEIVED Dear Mr. Attorney General: During the past several years, ranchers throughout the West including my home state of New Mexico, have been victimized by a series of cattle mutilations. As a result, these ranchers have as a group and individually suffered serious economic losses. These mysterious killings have been the subject of at least two articles in national publications, copies of which are enclosed. Mr. Cockburn's article in the December 1975 issue of Esquire states that there had been a federal investigation into this matter, but it was dropped. Mr. Cockburn implies the investigation may have been terminated because cattle mutilation per se is not a federal offense. While an individual cattle mutilation may not be a federal offense, I am very concerned at what appears to be a continued pattern of an organized interstate criminal activity. Therefore, I am requesting that the Justice Department re-examine its jurisdiction in this area with respect to the possible reopening of this investigation. Enclosed are copies of my files on this subject. While awaiting what will hopefully be a favorable reply, I shall continue to gather materials that could be of help in such an investigation. If you need further information in studying this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Harrison Schmitt HS:jri Enclosures RECEIVED 411-91479 23 CRIMINAL DIVISION DEC 28 1978 OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS
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FOIA release, from the fbi-vault collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 27 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.