ENMU Grad Investigates Unsolved Murder in New Book

“…a meticulously researched book that gets as close to the truth as we are likely to get. Moore’s narrative is more than just a rehash of an old case; it is a graphic snapshot of life in Las Cruces after World War II.”—Tucson Citizen

“…for people unfamiliar with the case and those who want a wellresearched look at the crime and its aftermath, Cricket in the Web delivers the goods.”—Santa Fe New Mexican

In the early hours of March 31, 1949, after a long night of drinking in downtown Las Cruces, New Mexico, Ovida “Cricket” Coogler climbed into a car never to be seen alive again. The disappearance of the eighteen-year-old waitress sparked a grand jury investigation that resulted in the ousting of a sheriff, the murder accusation of a professional football player, the downfall of political officials involved in an illegal gambling network and others for morals allegations.

Author Paula Moore’s (AA64) exhaustively researched account of the Cricket Coogler case, Cricket in the Web: The 1949 Unsolved Murder that Unraveled Politics in New Mexico, marks nearly sixty years since this unsolved crime and corruption occurred. In her research, Moore used accounts of El Paso Herald-Post reporter Walt Finley (nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage) and scoured archival court documents. Moore also interviewed people who were in Las Cruces at the time (including some who worked downtown in close proximity to Coogler) and uncovered FBI files and previously unseen videotaped interviews with suspects and others close to the case. “I was occasionally warned to be careful when writing this,” recounts Moore, “as if some retaliation might be expected. More than one person asked specifically that I not use their names. A few refused person-to-person meetings or even brief phone conversations.”

Cricket Coogler was a spirited young party girl who invariably wore clicking high heels. She had a reputation for maintaining relationships with power brokers and probably knew about the vast gambling networks around Las Cruces and the US-Mexico border. Sheriff “Happy” Apodaca’s investigation into Cricket’s death brought sleepy Las Cruces national attention in Time Magazine and the New York Times. Marred from its late beginning on April 6—a full week after Cricket had gone missing—the investigation’s delay drove speculation of a cover-up, and Apodaca’s reputation for womanizing, gambling, and other misuses of power incited suspicion of him. Seventeen days later on the eve of Easter Sunday, young rabbit hunters found Cricket’s body badly decomposed in the desert twelve miles south of Las Cruces. Apodaca and Pittsburgh Steeler Jerry Nuzum, in town for the college spring semester, were asked why they had taken off for Albuquerque the afternoon of Cricket’s disappearance and how they knew her.

This new book revisits a longtime mystery of the southern New Mexico desert for a fascinating account of true crime, political intrigue, and a girl too young to die. Arguably twentieth-century New Mexico’s best-known unsolved case and a source of fascination for more than fifty years with its elements of rough sex, politics and payoffs, and unforgettable characters that some people are still afraid to talk about, Cricket in the Web takes readers into the wild, sometimes lawless atmosphere of 1949 New Mexico.

Paula Moore, a native of eastern New Mexico, is the former executive assistant to the president of New Mexico State University. Her short stories and poetry have appeared in several literary journals, and her first book, One Man’s Word, won the 1989 New Mexico State University Book Award. She holds a master’s degree in English from NMSU and an M.F.A. from Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina. Since 1974, she and her husband have lived in Doña Ana County in southern New Mexico. Cricket in the Web is available at bookstores or directly from the University of New Mexico Press. To order, please call 800-249-7737 or visit www.unmpress.com.