Gallup police seek help finding missing Diné man Voneric Largo

Gallup police are asking for help finding Voneric Largo, a 36-year-old Diné man who was last seen in Gallup on May 21. Anyone with information on where Largo may be should call the Gallup Police Department at 505-722-2231.

Largo is described as about 5 feet 6 inches tall and roughly 180 pounds. His missing-person entry with the New Mexico Department of Public Safety matches that description and identifies Gallup as the last known location, placing the case in the city’s busy core at a time when every day that passes can make it harder to track a person’s movements through businesses, neighborhoods and travel stops.

That matters in Gallup, a city of 21,899 people that sits along Interstate 40 and Historic Route 66, where travelers can move through quickly and leave little trace. McKinley County covers 5,451.1 square miles, so a missing-person search can stretch far beyond the city limits and into a wide mix of roads, homes, workplaces and outlying communities.

The Gallup Police Department lists 60 commissioned officers, 10 public service officers and 6 civilian employees, and its public non-emergency dispatch number is 505-722-2002. The department’s missing-person notice uses the detective contact line at 505-722-2231, which is the number residents should use if they have seen Largo, know his vehicle or have any information about where he went after May 21.

The case also lands in the broader crisis facing Indigenous families across New Mexico. The New Mexico Indian Affairs Department says high rates of missing and murdered Indigenous people exist both on and off reservations and in cities, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham established the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Advisory Council Act in 2019 through House Bill 278. Federal Justice Department materials say states and tribes are collecting and analyzing data on missing and murdered Indigenous people, and New Mexico has an MMIP regional outreach program.

Nearby Navajo Nation agencies and search teams are also part of that wider safety net. The Navajo Nation Police Department maintains a public missing-persons announcement page, and the Navajo Nation Council recently approved $250,000 for 4 Corners K-9 Search and Rescue to support missing-person searches. In a region where Gallup serves as a main service center for McKinley County and surrounding communities, even one missing adult can trigger a search that depends on fast public recognition and quick reporting.