Fugitive in Deadly Drunk Driving Crash Captured in Cloudcroft Under Alias

Zackary Allen Swafford, 33, spent more than two years hiding in plain sight as a waiter in Cloudcroft's mountain village before Cloudcroft Police Chief Roger Schoolcraft personally staked out the restaurant the day before a multi-agency arrest operation ended Swafford's run from a homicide charge.

Swafford was taken into custody on foot without incident on March 28 in the 1700 block of James Canyon Highway. He faces an Otero County failure-to-appear warrant tied to charges of homicide by motor vehicle (DWI), tampering with evidence, and knowingly leaving the scene of an accident. He also carried active warrants out of Florida and Indiana. He is being held without bond at the Otero County Detention Center.

The underlying case dates to September 23, 2023, when Alamogordo Police Department officers responded at 2:27 a.m. to the 600 block of First Street and found a 56-year-old male pedestrian dead from injuries consistent with a vehicle strike. The driver had fled without stopping or rendering aid. The APD Major Crimes Unit investigation identified Swafford, then 32 and under the influence of alcohol, as the man behind the wheel. He was initially booked into the Otero County Detention Center on December 6, 2023, but later failed to appear in court, triggering the warrant that eventually brought Cloudcroft law enforcement to his door.

Swafford had taken deliberate steps to avoid detection: he changed his hair and beard length, removed distinctive ear gauges, and used a different name on social media. A confidential tip broke the case open. "I was contacted by a confidential source who had information specific to this, who the subject was, and that his real name was Zackary Swafford, and that he had a warrant for his arrest out of Otero County, out of Alamogordo," Schoolcraft said.

Rather than immediately mobilizing a team on that information alone, Schoolcraft conducted his own visual confirmation first. "I went in there because I wanted to put eyes on the day before," he said. "I wanted to make 100% sure before we started putting a bunch of people in place, and it turns out to be the wrong guy."

The arrest on March 28 was coordinated between the Cloudcroft Police Department, the Otero County Sheriff's Office narcotics enforcement unit, and U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement. Undercover personnel tracked Swafford's movements before officers converged. "My top priority: keep us safe, keep the public safe, catch the bad guy without ending up in a shooting incident," Schoolcraft said. "They can get pretty desperate."

The Otero County Sheriff's Office confirmed the matter remains an active investigation being conducted by the Alamogordo Police Department.