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Deadly Day in Clovis Area

The bodies of two men found early Friday morning in the middle of a county road west of Clovis have been identified.

The victims are Wesley Griest, 39, of Clovis, and Alex Rodriguez, 29, also of Clovis, according to Curry County Sheriff Roger Hatcher.

“The information we have at this time is very limited,” Hatcher said. “The agents from the New Mexico State Police spent approximately 12 hours processing this scene making sure they collected every piece of evidence available. While this evidence is being processed, we’re following up on the leads we do have.”

The shooting deaths of Griest and Rodriguez are two of three homicides that were discovered within a 10-hour span on Friday.

The bodies were found south of Grier, a few miles west of Cannon Air Force Base. They have been sent to the Office of the Medical Investigator Office in Albuquerque for autopsies, Hatcher said.

“We’re following up a whole stack of leads on different aspects of the investigation,” Hatcher said. “We recovered quite a bit of evidence from the vehicle nearby.”

Although no arrests have been made in connection with the double homicide, Hatcher said there is no evidence to lead law officials to believe it’s a random killing.

The deaths of the two men also seem to be unrelated to Friday night's shooting death of 41-year-old Moises Ortiz of 1601 Hammett St. in Clovis, Hatcher said.

“We have not uncovered any evidence to link these deaths with the killing on Hammett Street in Clovis,” he said.

The bodies of the two Clovis men were found about 8 a.m. Friday by Loyd Fuller, a foreman for a road construction contractor, who was headed toward a caliche pit to begin the day’s work.

Fuller said he saw a vehicle, and thought it was a fellow worker he was to meet Friday morning. As he got closer, he saw two people lying in the road beside a vehicle.

“I stopped, and they didn’t move,” Fuller said. “I backed up to the intersection (of Curry Roads U and 7) and called the office.”

Fuller’s co-worker came from the office, drove up, saw the bodies and called police.

“I thought it might be some people (who) got tooted up and passed out,” Fuller said. “I’ve had better days.”

Law enforcement officials said they didn’t think the men had been dead long.

“Someone had seen them about 1:30 Friday morning, so it had to have happened between 1:30 and 8:30 a.m.,” Hatcher said. “So we’ve narrowed the time down a little, but we need to narrow it down further.

“That’s why we’re asking the public for assistance,” he said. “Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Mr. Griest and Mr. Rodriguez on Thursday night should contact Deputy Waldo Casarez at 769-2335 or the Clovis Police Department at 769-1921 extension 0.”

Detectives from the New Mexico State Police Crime Scene Unit, Clovis Police Department and the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office assisted the Sheriff’s Office in processing the crime scene, Hatcher said.

FNNM News Editor Tony Farkas and Senior Writer Gary Mitchell contributed to this report.