Foul play not seen in camper’s death
Victim found three miles from campsite
Before she disappeared into the Manzano Mountains early Friday morning, 51-year-old Barbara Baca told her boyfriend there were people in the woods trying to kill her, according to Torrance County Sheriff Heath White
“He said he was trying to calm her down and tell her that no one was out there,” White said.
On Sunday she was found dead about three miles away, most likely from hypothermia, White said. Her cause of death will be determined by the Office of the Medical Investigator.
White said Baca’s boyfriend Gabriel Gonzales told him the couple had been camping at different campgrounds for the past eight months, and they’d been at Red Canyon for almost two weeks.
State Police and search and rescue teams looked for Baca after Gonzales reported her missing around 1:30 p.m. Friday. She’d disappeared from the Red Canyon campground around 1 a.m., White said, but Gonzales said he had been hoping he could find her himself.
A woman who lives in Manzano found Baca’s body in a remote canyon Sunday afternoon. Her footprints were the only ones around, White said, and he doesn’t suspect foul play.
“I walked down the ravine and yelled out her name. Her dog started barking and I found her,” Natasha Zimmerman said in a phone interview.
Zimmerman said she was assisted by a medium, who reached out to Bernadette Moya, a long-time friend of Baca’s, on Facebook. Moya said the medium was able to tell her exactly where to go, and she relayed the message to Zimmerman.
As she approached Baca’s body, Baca’s Yorkshire terrier Roxie ran off, Zimmerman said.
Moya said she first met Baca 25 years ago, and they’ve been friends ever since.
“She was just fun-loving, she loved life,” Moya said. “She was so smart. ...”
Sunday night Roxie returned to the campground, matted and dirty. She’s now staying with Baca’s mother, Moya said.
“That was Barb’s baby, she never had children,” Moya said. “She never married. She’d say she wanted to spoil her nieces and nephews instead.”