Hidden death
Melting snow reveals lifeless form near flea market

By Leslie Wood
Staff writer

A body was discovered Thursday morning near the Gallup Flee Market frozen in the snow and ice. The body is suspected to have been at the location least a week. Recent warmer temperatures melted the the snow and revealed the body. Official suspected the inciden to be an exposure death. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

GALLUP — A man’s body was discovered in the area east of the flea market on Thursday morning.

A flea market employee found the remains at about 8 a.m. near the railroad tracks that run near the market.

Investigator Merle Bates, a spokesman for the McKinley County Sheriff’s Department, said officials have not been able to identify the Native American man. He was taken to the Office of the Medical Examiner in Albuquerque to undergo an autopsy to determine his cause of death. No foul play was initially suspected.

“It’s looking like exposure,” Bates said. “ Of course, we won’t know for sure until the autopsy is complete.”

Investigators are seeking the public’s help to identify the man. He is between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall and has a medium build. He was wearing black work boots, carpenter blue jeans, a plaid shirt, a hooded sweatshirt and a blueish green windbreaker.

He had been in the area for at least a week before melting snow made his body visible, officials said.

Anyone with information about the man’s identity, is asked to call the sheriff’s department at (505) 722-7205.

This is the second body that has been discovered in the Gallup area in just more than a week.

Preliminary autopsy results indicate a 38-year-old Sheepsprings man died from exposure on or about Feb. 7.

Ray Eldridge was discovered near the Dairy Queen East Wednesday morning at about 9. A passer-by called police, who arrived at the location moments later. Eldridge was pronounced dead at the scene.