By Christine Steele
Deming Headlight
SILVER CITY, N.M. — Sixteen-year-old Thomas Manning, of Albuquerque, is being charged as an adult in the murder of his father, Jeffrey Scott Manning, whom he allegedly shot to death while the two were hunting Sunday in the McKnight Canyon area.
Jeffrey Manning’s body was found at about 11 a.m. Tuesday after an extensive search that included agencies from Grant County, Albuquerque, and Arizona. Manning’s body was found in a rugged area, by a Border Patrol agent and canine unit, said Lt. Fermin Lopez with the Grant County Sheriff’s Department.
“One of the main goals of this investigation was to find the body,” Lopez said. “And now that we have done that, at this point we have been able to gather on how this took place, and the next step is to find out why.”
Thomas Manning was arrested Sunday night after he hiked out of the McKnight Canyon area and walked into Bryan’s Pit Barbecue on Highway 35 in the Mimbres at around 6 p.m. and asked to use the phone to call his mother, said Theresa Smith, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Bryan.
Smith then called 911 to report the incident after Manning said his father had been shot.
Deputies and investigators began searching for Jeffrey Manning’s body Sunday night but called the search off when it got too dark. On Monday, they returned to the scene with Forest Service personnel, State Police and the medical investigator.
They searched all day, but still did not find Jeffrey Manning’s body.
Early Tuesday morning, the Grant County Sheriff’s office called in Grant County Search and Rescue, because of their expertise in searching wilderness areas. They were joined by searchers from Mesilla Valley Search and Rescue, Organ Mountain Technical Rescue Squad, Sandia Search Dogs, Forest Service Law Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents with dogs.
“Normally State Police Search and Rescue would not assist on a search on a criminal investigation,” said Brian Fuller of Grant County Search and Rescue, “but an exception was made in this instance by the State Police Administration in Santa Fe because the Sheriff’s Office requested assistance.”
Jeffrey Manning’s body was found after about four hours of searching Tuesday morning, and did not appear to have been moved from the scene, Lopez said.
“The weather helped preserve the condition of the body and it doesn’t look like their was any other crime scene or that the body was moved from the location,” he said.
There was light snow on the ground Monday but the skies were clear Tuesday morning during the search, Lopez said.
In the criminal complaint filed Tuesday morning in District Court, Children’s Court Attorney and Deputy District Attorney George Zsoka filed a notice of intent to seek an adult sentence to “treat the child as a serious youthful offender and to seek an adult sentence.”
Thomas Manning is being held at the Luna County Detention Center because the Grant County Detention Center has not yet resolved issues raised by the Department of Children Youth and Families and is unable to hold juveniles at this time.
The Luna County Detention Center would not release a mug shot of Thomas Manning without permission from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and Grant County would not release the photo because Thomas Manning is still a juvenile, despite his being charged as an adult.
Lopez said medical investigators were still processing the scene late Tuesday afternoon and were expecting to release the body to OMI in Albuquerque later Tuesday night.
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