Fugitive Arrested in Weed, Fire, P+Z Plans, and More: Your Village Update
A long-lost fugitive was apprehended in Weed. Plus: Firefighting seasonals' paperwork is "going through," Planning and Zoning looks to the future, and a message from Cloudcroft Schools
In September 2019, a man by the name of Walter Lee Coffman renewed his driver's license at the Cloudcroft MVD. This seemingly routine act set off a chain of events that unraveled a decades-long mystery involving allegations of identity theft and attempted murder—and a fugitive's life on the run.
Hiding in plain sight
The man presenting himself as Walter Lee Coffman was, in fact, Stephen Craig Campbell, a 76-year-old fugitive who had been evading authorities for over 40 years.
Campbell's story began in the early 1980s when he faced charges for allegedly planting a bomb at the home of his estranged wife's boyfriend in Wyoming. The explosion injured his wife, resulting in the loss of a finger, and caused significant property damage. Released on bond in 1983, Campbell failed to appear for his court date and subsequently became one of the U.S. Marshals Service's most wanted fugitives.
Officials believe Campbell assumed the identity of Walter Lee Coffman, a former University of Arkansas classmate who had died in a car accident in 1975 at the age of 22. Campbell allegedly applied for a passport under Coffman's name in 1984 and obtained a Social Security card in 1995. In 2003, his apparently stolen identity enabled him to purchase a 44-acre property in Weed, New Mexico, the rural community just 22 miles southeast of Cloudcroft.
The facade began to crumble in 2019 when Campbell attempted to renew his driver's license using Coffman's credentials. The National Passport Center's Fraud Prevention Unit flagged inconsistencies, prompting an investigation that revealed the real Coffman's death decades earlier. Further scrutiny uncovered Campbell's true identity and status as a wanted fugitive.
On February 19, 2025, federal agents descended upon Campbell's property, where they arrested Campbell. A search of his property yielded 57 firearms and substantial ammunition stockpiles.
The Otero County Sheriff’s Department “secured the outer area” with no involvement in the arrest.
Campbell was charged with misuse of a passport and remains in custody at the Doña Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces pending trial, deemed a flight risk. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, and additional charges could follow.
Despite his secretive past, Campbell—known to the Weed, New Mexico community as "Walt"—has left an impression.
In the area community Facebook groups, those who knew him posted comments of shock and surprise. Others remembered his presence at county commission meetings, sitting beside him at an interview, or other ordinary events. Cambell’s arrest has left the community grappling with the unsettling revelation that one of their own was a wanted fugitive hiding in plain sight.
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Fire Season Heats Up: What Cloudcroft Residents Need to Know
As March rolls in, Cloudcroft is feeling the heat—literally. With strong winds, high fire danger ratings, and water restrictions in place, fire season is officially underway.
Homeowners can tap into available funding to reduce fire risks on their properties. The FireWise program, in partnership with Cloudcroft’s Volunteer Fire Department (CVFD), is here to help. To learn more, contact Fire and EMS Chief Erich Wuersching at ewuersching@cloudroftfd.com.
With fire season fast approaching, the Reader asked how the recent federal hiring freeze might impact Lincoln National Forest’s firefighting teams. According to an inside source, seasonal firefighter hiring is still moving forward. In fact, the Smokey Bear District Hotshots are expected to start as early as next week.
Previously, we reported that at least 11 employees from the Sacramento Ranger District were terminated as part of the nationwide DOGE firings. However, a current Lincoln National Forest technician suggests that the number is likely closer to 20 employees lost across the forest—which could pose a significant hit to local operations.
Currently, Lincoln National Forest’s Regional Supervisor and media representatives have not responded to our requests for comment. We’ll provide more first-hand updates as we learn more.
Village looks ahead
The Planning and Zoning Commission (P+Z) welcomed new Vicechair Dave Abel and new commission member Keith Hamilton aboard during the Tuesday, March 4th meeting in the village chambers, under the guidance of new P+Z Chair Leah Ross.
Concerned citizen and self-proclaimed “frustrated engineer” Dana Dunlap asked if the committee had a master plan:
“Why are we issuing building permits when we have maxed out our water supply? I've looked at the planning process and I believe I can safely say we're in a water crisis. And the data that I've pulled up, not even from JJ (Carrizal), says we're gonna get worse.”
“We are in a drought and it's gonna get worse.”
“What I've seen is, this could have been avoided if we had put in, what I call guidelines. I mean, just like houses. Can we have 10,000 houses in Cloudcroft? No, there ought to be someplace that says you can only have so many.”
“Same thing with roads, and same things with water. I've seen that in other plans, like Red River or Alamogordo, where you can only have 160,000 gallons a day. That's all you get.”
“You can't continue to expand, and I think in the past we haven't done (a master plan.) I cannot find a planning and zoning master plan. Is there one? A master plan as far as limiting the number of permits that we can authorize for building, or just a higher level plan. And then comes your ordinances.”
The P+Z commission agreed to discuss a master plan during the April 1st meeting.
On ordinances that look to the future, P+Z discussed rainwater catchment systems. New Vicechair Abel proposed attainable standards for the village’s rainwater harvest and storage:
“Collecting rainwater is a step in the right direction for water issues; what the village should do is adopt an ordinance to quantify how this will be done to standardize it.”
“Not having an ordinance in place just opens us up for weirdness. Conversely, you gotta make sure that whatever (the village council) comes up with is executable for the average person. It needs to be accessible.”
P+Z approved a new Allsup’s Market highway-adjacent sign that meets village standards, is only 6 feet tall, and won’t be illuminated.
The village council is meeting this Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. in the village chambers, with Fire Cheif Wuersching and Mayor King determining fire danger rating levels, according to the agenda.
Mayor King has remained a busy worker bee since his late December 2024 appointment, putting scads of information online, making it easily available to the public through a GIS dashboard. You can access village reports, surveys, and more on the village website.
King, the rest of the council, and Judge Tatum recently returned from Santa Fe meetings, where King says he learned about emergency infrastructure funding the village can apply for “in the next 30 days.” King plans to attend the Congressional City Conference in Washington D.C. where he will continue to advocate for Cloudcroft’s critical infrastructure needs.
New Mexico county reports 9 measles cases
Cloudcroft’s Elementary and Middle School recently sent local families a New Mexico Department of Health measles fact sheet in response to the 9 reported measles cases in Lea County as of March 4th, 2025.
Lea County in New Mexico borders Gaines County in Texas, where measles cases near 100.
The Texas Department of State Health Services announced:
“At this time, 159 cases have been identified since late January. Twenty-two of the patients have been hospitalized.
There has been one fatality in a school-aged child who lived in the outbreak area. The child was not vaccinated and had no known underlying conditions.
Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities. DSHS is working with local health departments to investigate the outbreak.”
Learn more about the highly contagious disease below, and be well.
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Great reporting! For such a little place, you all sure do have a lot of news! (Most places do ... when there is a team willing to investigate)
We really appreciate the *reporting that we are seeing here-And as someone already stated during the meeting rezoning for somewhat higher density when we’re in a drought ….that is something that needs to be discussed-and really thought through-… again … we are in drought and we have to come to grips with that.