It was one month on Tuesday since Rio Arriba County Sheriff Billy Merrifield was found dead in his patrol unit at his Abiquiú home.
As much as we hoped we’d to have answers by now, we only have more questions. The Office of the Medical Investigator finally released the autopsy and toxicology reports on Thursday, declaring his death was an accident caused by a combination of alcohol and fentanyl.
While it’s commonplace for deaths in Rio Arriba County to be the result of fentanyl consumption, the fact that Merrifield had it in his system was a shock to many. It’s no secret that his only biological child died from a drug overdose in 2016 and Merrifield was vocal about his dislike of the drug. In fact, he seemed to have made it his mission to clean up the county and get fentanyl off the streets.
The New Mexico State Police are investigating the sheriff’s death and as far as we know, have not released any reports or findings. The Rio Grande SUN sent an Inspection of Public Records request to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety asking for those reports and was denied. After consulting the Foundation for Open Government attorney, a second request was sent. That one has not yet been responded to.
It’s not clear who NMSP has interviewed or if they have found the mysterious “Cynthia” that called Merrifield’s friend after he hit a road sign in his patrol vehicle.
The unexpected and shocking death has caused the rumor mill to start up: People have taken to social media declaring that it was a set-up and Merrifield was slipped the drug somehow. At least one person on Facebook claimed on a Rio Grande SUN post, that Merrifield was a fentanyl user.
Recently appointed Rio Arriba County Sheriff Lorenzo Aguilar released a statement the day the OMI released its reports, saying the “behavior exhibited in this case does not align with the values and integrity that characterize the dedicated men and women of the Rio Arriba Sheriff’s Office …”
It sounds like Aguilar thinks Merrifield was a drug user — or was that night, at least. The truth will come out eventually. We hope it’s sooner rather than later.
It’s difficult to imagine that a sheriff who was doing so well and was dedicated to protecting his community could harbor such a dark secret. Surely those who worked with him would have noticed if he had a drug problem? They are trained to notice those things, after all.
We are hoping the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office takes notice of the mutterings around Rio Arriba County suggesting that there could have been something more to this incident than Merrifield taking drugs and overdosing. A thorough investigation at the state level should be done to rule out any foul play. It’s not everyday that a county sheriff is found dead in his patrol vehicle after a minor accident and an early morning phone call made by a mystery woman to a “friend” who ultimately left him for dead — whether intentional or not.