Teenage Couple on Pilgrimage Shot to Death

CHIMAYO, N.M. —  A teenage couple making a Good Friday pilgrimage to a church that is said to contain healing dirt were found shot to death along one of the most popular routes for the annual trek to the Roman Catholic shrine.

“I can’t recall there being an incident like this” during the annual journey, said state police Capt. Carlos Maldonado.

The body of 17-year-old Richard Martinez was found on a highway before daybreak about 30 miles north of Santa Fe. His body of his girlfriend, Karen Castanon of Arroyo Seco, believed to also be 17, was found several miles away from Martinez’s body. Both were students at Los Alamos High School.

The deaths were being investigated as homicides, but police had no suspects, said state police Sgt. Royleen Ross-Weaver.

“At this point, we are making a public plea for anyone to come forward with any information. We suspect there were people [other pilgrims] in the area,” she said.

The slain boy’s father, Ray Martinez, told Associated Press that his son was a good student, active in sports and very religious.

“He was a beautiful kid. Now he’s gone. I’m still in shock,” he said while sitting in his son’s bedroom at the family home in La Villita.

One photo in the room showed the high school sweethearts kissing. The engraved wooden frame read, “This moment will last forever.”

The boy’s mother, Gerri Martinez, said: “My son was perfect. He didn’t have any enemies. He was the light of our life. . . . My baby didn’t deserve this.”

Pilgrims and other travelers were diverted around the yellow-taped crime scene for several hours. Police cut a fence and sent pilgrims through a field. Traffic was rerouted onto another highway.

Tens of thousands of people each year journey to El Santuario de Chimayo. Good Friday is the most popular day for the pilgrimage. Last year, an estimated 65,000 visited the Roman Catholic church during Holy Week.

By midday Friday, pilgrims had already packed the small adobe church. Many arrived carrying wooden crosses or lilies. Some had walked only a mile or two; others had been on the road for days.

The draw is a room with a small hole whose dirt is thought to possess healing power. The room is filled with crutches and canes left behind by visitors.