Woman Found Dead Near Route 66 Mile Marker 15, Investigators on Scene

Workers from Tse Bonito Mortuary recovered the body of an unidentified woman found Wednesday near mile marker 15 on New Mexico Highway 118, the historic Route 66 corridor east of Gallup, as investigators worked the scene in what has become a tragically familiar stretch of road in McKinley County.

Richard Malone from the Office of the Medical Investigator gathered evidence and investigated alongside detectives from the McKinley County Police Department while the mortuary crew removed the remains. No cause of death has been released, and the woman has not been identified. Neither OMI nor the McKinley County Police Department had issued a formal statement or case classification as of publication.

The investigation is active and its nature, whether the death is being treated as criminal, accidental, or undetermined, has not been disclosed by authorities. Malone's presence signals that an autopsy determination is likely pending, though OMI typically does not release findings while a case remains open.

The discovery along NM 118 fits a documented and devastating pattern in the Gallup area. In 2014 alone, 36 unnatural deaths were recorded for Natives in or around the Gallup area, almost all alcohol-related or tied to homelessness, with 17 of those deaths caused by motorists striking pedestrians on major thoroughfares or I-40, and nearly all the victims were Native. The following winter began with record-setting deaths from exposure in McKinley County, reaching 12 by January 14, 2015, with all victims Native.

That toll included deaths scattered across the same corridors where Wednesday's discovery occurred. Harold Begay, 42, was killed by a vehicle attempting to cross Route 66. Three people were found dead from exposure in fields on December 22 alone, including Melbert Tom, 33, an unidentified man, and an unidentified body, followed by Linda Carroll, 45, on December 30, and another unidentified man on December 31.

Gallup is the county seat for McKinley County, the poorest county in New Mexico, and borders the Navajo Nation and the Pueblo of Zuni. That geography shapes the risk: people traveling on foot between communities, in the absence of adequate transit or lighting, face repeated exposure to high-speed traffic on corridors like NM 118 and I-40.

The McKinley County Police Department has not announced whether they are seeking witnesses or additional information in connection with Wednesday's death. Anyone with information about the woman found near mile marker 15 on NM 118 is encouraged to contact the McKinley County Police Department directly.