By Kevin Buey
Deming Headlight
LUNA COUNTY, N.M. — One of three men who escaped Sunday evening from the Luna County Detention Center remained on the run Monday afternoon, the U.S. Marshal Service reported.
Mario Martinez-Rios, 30, was among three federal prisoners who escaped through a hole in a perimeter fence at the LCDC, the USMS reported.
Two men were recaptured at about 5:30 a.m. Monday, after about 21 hours’ freedom.
The USMS was notified of the escape at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. It established a search with the Deming Police Department, New Mexico State Police, Luna County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Border Patrol.
Alberto Grijalba-Murillo, 39, and Julio Mendoza-Acosta, 50, were recaptured early Monday after personnel on a Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine helicopter spotted them hiding in the desert west of the detention center. The helicopter and personnel had joined the search at about 10 p.m. on Sunday, as had a K-9 team.
The two had been arrested for possession of marijuana and illegal entry into the United States. Martinez-Rios had been in custody on charges of illegal entry into the United States.
Anyone with information on Martinez-Rios should contact Luna County Central Dispatch at (575) 546-0354, or the USMS in Las Cruces at (575) 527-6850.
Martinez-Rios uses the names Mario Martinez, Mario Rios and Mario Rios-Martinez. He is a native of Chihuahua, Mexico, and is 5-foot-8 and 173 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair and a skin tone described by the USMS as “medium.”
The LCDC has, for some time, had a contract with the USMS to house federal prisoners. U.S. Marshall Conrad Candelaria, in Albuquerque, said the escape should not endanger that contract.
“I don’t see any reason why it should,” Candelaria said Monday. (The escape is) still in the preliminary stages of investigation.
“There is no immediate indication for a great level (of concern regarding Martinez-Rios), but again, he is still an escaped fugitive. Be diligent, conscious of surroundings,” he warned area residents.
Luna County officials referred, at the request of the USMS, all questions to the Marshal Service.
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