Fri 04 24 rdr

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Roswell Daily Record

Vol. 124, No. 98 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday

THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

April 24, 2015

Friday

www.rdrnews.com

Roswell man charged with teen’s murder By Dylanne Petros Record Staff Writer

A Roswell man has been bound over to district court on first-degree murder and other charges after he allegedly killed a Roswell teen and buried the victim in his backyard in 2013. Antonio Orlando “Landito” Romero, 24, formerly of the 700 block of East Third Street, is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree felony armed robbery, third-degree felony tampering with evidence and fourth-degree felony possession of a firearm by a felon after he allegedly shot and killed Javier Miguel Castillo,

Police said teen’s hogtied body found buried in backyard

who had been missing since October 2013 when he was 19 years old. Romero was bound over to Fifth Judicial District Court after a preliminary examination Tuesday in Chaves County Magistrate Court. Roswell Police Department officer Rob Tucker said he learned on Dec. 18, 2013 that a victim was buried at a residence on East 12th Street in Roswell. Police said later that day a search warrant was executed at 213 E. 12th St., a residence police said was abandoned.

Police said after two shovels of dirt were removed in the backyard, a piece of fabric became visible. “The edge of the fabric was lifted and what appeared to be decaying flesh became visible,” RPD Detective Rob Scribner wrote in Romero’s criminal complaint. Scribner said the Office of the Medical Investigator was notified and responded to the scene. Scriber said the excavation continued and a decomposing body was visible in a shallow grave. “Affiant observed that the

hands of the decedent were bound behind the back,” Scribner wrote. “The feet were also bound. The bindings appeared to be some sort of wire. The decedent was face down, with the legs bent at the knees. The decedent’s heels were up near the buttocks.” Scribner said the victim was wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey. Police said a stripped Chevrolet Impala was also found in the backyard of the residence at 213 E. 12th St., with vehicle parts inside the home.

Bloomin’ yuccas

“A blue jacket was located that appeared to have blood on it,” Scribner wrote. “An empty box of 380 ammunition was located as well as a spent 9 mm casing.” Castillo’s mother told police her son was last seen on Oct. 8, 2013. His mother said she had last seen her son in her vehicle. The car that was found at the residence was Castillo’s mother’s, police said. “Miguel once told her that there were people who wanted to kill him,” Scribner wrote. “Miguel said that somebody tried to kill him.

Full blooms on a Yucca stands out against a clear, blue New Mexico sky on West Second Street Monday.

Udall staff host military academy info session Staff Report U.S. Sen. Tom Udall will host an information session at New Mexico Military Institute Tuesday for high school students and recent graduates interested in applying to the U.S. military service academies. The Military Service Academy Information Session will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Pearson Auditorium at 101 W. College Blvd. in Roswell. Representatives from Udall’s office, the New Mexico congressional delegation and the military service academies will be available to field questions from prospective applicants and parents. Udall is currently accepting applications for nominations to the

academies. Four of the five service academies — the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy — require a congressional, vice-presidential or service-connected nomination. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy does not require a nomination. Udall said U.S. military service academies are among the most competitive colleges in the nation and provide those who enroll with an excellent education and opportunities for leadership in both military and civilian life. “Each year, I have the privilege of nominating outSee SESSION, Page A3 Today’s Forecast

HIGH 78 LOW 46

He stated that they were gang members.” Castillo told his mother he had witnessed a murder at East Cherry Street and North See CHARGED, Page A2

Keller transplant No. 3 fills PR slot By Jeff Jackson Record City Editor

Bill Moffitt Photo

Romero

To bring in a director of public relations, the city of Roswell has once again wrestled away a hire from Keller, Texas. DeAnna Beseda will be the third high-level staffer to join Roswell City Hall in the last seven months, following City Manager Steve Polasek, who was hired in September, and Director of Administrative Services Jonathan Phillips who came in March. As city manager in Keller, Polasek was the boss over Phillips and Beseda. In addition, Phillips and Beseda are planning to marry. “It’s no secret,” Phillips said. Beseda, a graduate of Texas Christian University in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in advertising/public relations and of Texas Woman’s University in 2013 with a master’s degree in business, will start work in Roswell on May 4 and earn an $89,000 salary. She will oversee public information, marketing and publicity, legislative affairs and other areas, according to a news release issued by the city Thursday. “I am very excited to have Ms. Beseda join our team of professionals,” Polasek said in the news release. “She has many great assets that will benefit Roswell as we work to enhance our service levels, improve our community and encourage new development.” The job in Roswell won’t

be much different than what she had been doing for eight years in Keller, where was a special events coordinator, director and previously coordinator of that city’s economic development office. “I think a lot of the things are going to be very similar to what Roswell is doing,” Beseda said by phone Thursday. What will be slightly different, however, is working on Roswell’s higher degree of tourism than in Keller, a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth engulfed in the country’s fourth largest metro area. “You guys have a tourism industry with the alien museum and festival, the zoo, parks, the air center and the museum and arts center,” Beseda said. Among her long-term goals, Beseda said, is to establish a web page for each city department and using various online tools such at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to enhance the city’s tourism efforts. “I think social media is very important, especially for tourists. It’s the first thing they look at when coming to the city,” Beseda said. “So they know there’s a planetarium, a zoo and a convention center.” The Roswell Convention & Civic Center is a site that needs to be emphasized, and Beseda has as another objective to aggressively recruit corporate conventions. “It’s such a wonderful See PR, Page A3

Fresh art coming soon to the RMAC By Jeff Jackson Record City Editor Four pieces of art are being offered to the Roswell Museum and Art Center, but how they will be displayed is still a design in progress. One piece is a dark and macabre photograph by Ted Kuykendall from 1987 titled “Mr. Primm,” while the others are Native American in genre, use the same color scheme and came in a three-painting set from Santa Fe artist Bill Schenck. The decision for the RMAC Board of Trustees when it meets next month is which of the three from Schenck to accept along with the Kuykendall photo. That panel and the RMAC’s Acquisition Committee both met last week in separate meetings to review the art pieces and hear a presen-

tation from Sara Woodbury, the museum’s curator of collections and exhibitions. Woodbury and other museum officials will recommend the next step, she said, but the key decision is where and how the RMAC will use the new displays. Several options will be considered, Woodbury said, including incorporating them into current displays, creating a new and single display or spreading them throughout the museum individually. In any way, shape or form, the museum wants the Native American-themed art to reflect a Western genre to complement its related collections, Woodbury said. “In an overall broad view, a Schenck would be a great addition, in my opinion, to the See MUSEUM, Page A2

Submitted Photo

“Navajo Couple” is one of three paintings by Bill Schenck of Santa Fe that is being considered for display at the RMAC. This 2010 work is actually a composite of two 1900s paintings by Maynard Dixon, “Blanket-wrapped Navajo” and Desert Shepherdess.”

Index

Today’s Obituaries Page B3

• Demetrio “Chico” Espinoza • Lori Ann Johnson

Classifieds...........B6 Comics..................B5 Financial..............B4 General...............A2

Horoscopes.........A8

Opinion.................A4

Lotteries. ............A2

Sports. ................B1

Nation..................B3

Weather...............A8


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