'Truck surfer' found dead

By Leslie Wood
Staff Writer

GALLUP — New Mexico State Police are seeking information about a pedestrian who was killed on Interstate Highway 40 this week.

The victim was identified as 20-year-old Anthony Mark Alvarado, of Los Angeles County, Sgt. Rick Anglada, a spokesman for the agency, said. Police said the man has a habit of "truck surfing" and is known to hop on tractor-trailer trucks and travel cross-country.

The California man was found dead on the frontage road just off Interstate 40 at Exit 108 on June 16 at about 6 p.m. The Laguna Police Department initially conducted the investigation into the crash, but asked for the state police's assistance in helping to identify Alvarado who was classified as a "John Doe" because he had no identification.

"They were not sure if he was a member of the tribe," Anglada said.

Alvarado had been struck by a vehicle that fled the scene of the crash. No witnesses have come forward with information about the case, Anglada said. Anyone with information about Alvarado's death, is asked to call the New Mexico State Police's Gallup division at (505) 863-9353.

Monday a Big Rapids, Mich., man was killed in a traffic accident along Interstate 40 just west of Gallup.

Richard Bilstein, 85, was ejected from his vehicle when it struck a rumble strip and he subsequently overcorrected. He was transported to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries.