NEWS
Autopsy details discovery of skeleton in walls of Ruidoso Downs building
Court records show man had absconded from halfway house shortly before disappearance
Published
Modified
The building was demolished, as many smaller structures are, section by section.
First came the roof, then a portion of wall. That鈥檚 when workers found the skeleton wedged between a half-cinder-block, half-plywood wall of a storage unit in Ruidoso Downs.
After the June 2023 discovery, various tests determined the bones belonged to a man between 31 and 59 years old, standing between 5 feet, 4 inches and 6 feet tall. The skull was missing several teeth.
It would take almost three years and a genealogy search to identify the bones as those of Freddy Ray Baca, who would have been 41 or 42 when he was last seen in 2018.
After the bones were identified in April, Baca鈥檚 family told the Lincoln County Sheriff鈥檚 Office that they "long feared what had happened to him,鈥� but never reported him missing. Court records show an arrest warrant was issued for Baca in July 2018 after he left a halfway house and didn鈥檛 show up to an appointment with his probation officer.
An autopsy obtained by the Journal found the skeleton was 鈥渨ithout obvious injury鈥� but ruled the cause of death as homicide, largely because people don鈥檛 often hide their own bodies in the walls of buildings.
鈥淒ue to the circumstances of how this person was found, the cause and manner of death is best certified as homicidal violence,鈥� according to the autopsy. 鈥淪hould additional information become available, this report will be revisited and revised.鈥�
A forensic anthropologist at the Office of the Medical Investigator wrote that, although no skeletal trauma was found, 鈥渋t is possible that soft tissue injuries were present that did not impact bone or that affected bones not recovered.鈥�
The Lincoln County Sheriff鈥檚 Office said the homicide is being investigated by the Major Crimes Unit of the 12th Judicial District Attorney鈥檚 Office. A media contact for the office did not respond to a message Thursday.
The sheriff鈥檚 office said the case 鈥渞emains very active鈥� and asked anyone with information on Baca鈥檚 death to call detectives at 575-648-2341.
It was on June 21, 2023, when the 鈥渕ummified human remains鈥� were found in the walls of a storage unit in the 27000 block of U.S. 70, a rural area west of Ruidoso where the Rio Ruidoso runs alongside farmland and RV parks, according to the sheriff鈥檚 office.
The report states a forensic anthropologist put the skeleton in a 130-degree floor kettle with Tergazyme, a high-powered detergent, baking soda and water. The remains were left in the kettle for a week until they were clean enough for examination.
Forensic anthropologists determined the likely sex by the features of the skull and pelvis, according to the report. The jaw, teeth and skull suggested the remains were European American, Black or Hispanic. Portions of the pelvis and the ribs were used to estimate the age between 31 and 59 while the femur and fibula length placed the height between 64 and 72 inches.
The autopsy report states several teeth were missing and several others had fillings.
But the autopsy did not turn up an identification.
In 2024, the sheriff鈥檚 office teamed up with Marshall University to obtain a DNA profile from the remains and use it in a genealogy search. Authorities found 30 people across the nation with 鈥渇amilial ties.鈥�
Deputies said many were distant relatives but the search 鈥渁ided in narrowing down the family tree.鈥� In April, the search narrowed to a close relative who said Baca had been missing for years. Dental records were used by OMI to match the remains to Baca.
Baca鈥檚 last known address was at the GLU Factory, a halfway house in Clovis that specialized in treating drug abuse, therapy and job development. Baca was ordered to live at the halfway house after being sentenced to five years of probation.
In June 2018 the GLU Factory told Baca鈥檚 probation officer he left the facility, telling them he went to a job interview at Dairy Queen and, later, "at a trailer park helping someone,鈥� according to court records. Baca never came back, and on June 22 he told his probation officer he was out of money and having issues at the halfway house.
The probation officer told Baca to report to them by June 25, but he never showed up.
鈥淢r. Baca is not adjusting to probation,鈥� the officer wrote in a report. 鈥溾�� He is not putting in any real effort to be successfully on this probation. His whereabouts are unknown at this time.鈥�
