From the Pecos Valley Newsroom

The Roswell Albertsons Market on South Main Street is reopening today and will remain open until 10pm today, then close again for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. After the store was closed last week, a 3rd party company did a deep clean of the entire building. Protocols priot to the shutdown included requiring masks for all employees and guests, hourly cleaning of touch points, and providing visual and sudio reminders regarding social distancing.

Matt Miller has been selected as Roswell’s new fire chief. Miller remembers the poem he recited at his pre-school graduation when he was 5 years old. It told of how he would grow up to be a fireman. Many years later, Miller’s poem became reality when he started working for the Roswell Fire Department in 2003. Miller, who was the only current RFD employee among the applicants, has served as interim chief since Devin Graham retired from the top job at the end of August. Miller spent about 10 years as a firefighter on RFD’s trucks before being promoted to deputy fire marshal in 2012.

As the City of Roswell continues to adjust to try to keep its employees and the
public safe during the current pandemic conditions, the following additional steps are being taken. From now through at least Nov. 27, City Hall and the offices of Planning and Zoning, Engineering, Solid Waste and Parks will be closed to general in-person public access. These sites will be available by appointment (call 624-6700) and by phone and email. The city’s usual online services also remain available to citizens. Code Enforcement, Building Inspections, Utility Billing, Landfill and Transit will remain open to the public, for now.

Meanwhile, The Roswell Police Department is also asking for the public’s help in locating a fugitive who escaped from custody Wednesday afternoon (Nov. 18). Chaves County Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the capture of this fugitive. Austin Medford, 23, fled from the Roswell police station last Tuesday morning at the corner of West Second Street and North Richardson Avenue about 4:20 p.m. Wednesday. He was wearing blue scrubs issued to him as a prisoner of the Chaves County Detention Center.

Investigators are working to locate a man wanted for questioning in the shooting death of another man in east Roswell early Friday morning. The Roswell Police Department is seeking Manuel Villarreal, 36, for questioning in connection to the homicide of John Halfmann, 43. Halfmann was found in a shed in the backyard of a residence in the 700 block of East Fifth Street shortly before 4 a.m. Friday. He had suffered a gunshot wound. Another man who has been living in the shed reported finding the victim. You can see a picture of Villareal on the RPD Facebook page.

Roswell Polcie investigators located surveillance footage they believe shows escaped fugitive Austin Medford. The 23-year-old Medford appears to now be wearing a red skirt and dark top and may be carrying a pink purse. You can see the picture on the Roswell Police Facebook page. Information provided to RPD puts Medford as being last seen around noon on Thursday, walking west on the New Mexico Military Institute golf course. Anyone with information that could potentially help police locate Medford, who is wanted in California for kidnapping, robbery and carjacking, is asked to immediately call the Roswell Police Department.

A 61-year-old Roswell man died early Tuesday morning after being struck by a pickup truck as he walked in a traffic lane along South Main Street. The Roswell Police Department investigation determined the driver of the vehicle, a 30-year-old Roswell man, was not at fault and will not face any charges in connection with the accident. Investigators believe Larry Joe Thomas was accidentally struck by the truck as he walked south in the middle of the outside traffic lane of the two southbound lanes of South Main Street near Charleston Road in the south part of the city.

Chaves County Sheriff Deputies assisted the Roswell Police Department and State Police with a pursuit Tuesday night involving a reckless driver who committed two counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer. After a long pursuit the vehicle was disabled with spike strips and a pit maneuver ending the pursuit. The unnamed driver was arrested.

As COVID-19 cases are on the rise and New Mexicans are sheltering in place through Nov. 30, Vitalant reminds individuals that blood donation is an essential activity and they are permitted to leave the house to donate at a Vitalant location or blood drive. Healthy individuals are encouraged to donate live-saving blood, platelets, or plasma. Donors can rest assured that Vitalant is taking every necessary safety precaution to keep New Mexicans healthy as they donate. Additionally, Vitalant is asking anyone who has recovered from COVID-19 to help other patients through donating life-saving convalescent plasma. Recovered COVID-19 patients have immune-boosting antibodies to the virus in their plasma, which can be given to patients currently fighting COVID-19. This effort gives those currently suffering from COVID-19 a better opportunity to combat the virus.

A big chase from the Roswell area to Ruidoso and back. According to a statement from New Mexico State Polcie, troopers assisted Chaves County deputies, Roswell Polcie, and federal agents in apprehending the driver of a black SUV. The chase went through the streets of Roswell, eventually getting on US 380 headed toward Ruidoso. But the driver turned around and came back into Roswell. Troopers laid spike strips down and the driver gave up in front of the Sonic on West 2nd Street. No word on the name of the suspect yet.