CBI investigates suspicious death near Ludlow Massacre memorial site

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said it was investigating a suspicious death after Las Animas County sheriff’s deputies were sent to an abandoned building near Country Rd. 44 and County Rd. 61.5 at about 1:42 p.m. May 17. Investigators later identified the deceased as James Hedges, born March 5, 1983, of Trinidad, and said the body was found near the Ludlow Massacre Memorial Site, about 15 miles north of Trinidad.

CBI said May 19 that the circumstances surrounding the death appeared suspicious and that it was asking the public for information. The bureau has not released a cause or manner of death, and it has not named a suspect. The case is being handled as an active investigation in a rural stretch of Las Animas County where county roads, isolated structures and wide-open land can make rapid response and witness accounts especially important.

The location adds a heavy historical layer to the case. History Colorado says the Ludlow site honors the victims of the 1914 Ludlow Massacre and is part of the Ludlow Tent Colony National Historic Landmark. The United Mine Workers of America built the monument in 1918 and the death pit shortly afterward to honor the dead. History Colorado says the Ludlow Tent Colony Site was listed in the National Register in June 1985.

The National Park Service says the violence at Ludlow began when National Guardsmen aligned with the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company attacked the tent colony on the morning of April 20, killing 21 people, including 11 children. The attack set off 10 days of continuous warfare in Colorado before President Woodrow Wilson ordered federal troops to disarm both sides. That history has long made Ludlow one of the most sensitive and closely watched places in southern Colorado.

CBI’s Investigations Unit says it provides around-the-clock support to local law enforcement, prosecutors and state leaders, while its Cold Case Unit focuses on unsolved homicides, long-term missing persons and unidentified remains. In this case, investigators are still building the timeline around an abandoned building near one of the region’s best-known memorial sites, where a death has quickly drawn attention well beyond the immediate area.