1988 Murder Of Rookie Officer May Have Been Committed By Colleagues

Steve Sandlin(Unsolved Mysteries Wiki)

The Story

At 21 years old, Steve Sandlin was a rookie in the police force in Mountainair, New Mexico. Steve was following in the footsteps of his father who had a career in law enforcement his whole life. At a young age, Steve knew that he wanted to be like his dad and pursue a career as a police officer. In March of 1988, Steve did just that. He was accepted as a member of the Mountainair police department on that very day. This feel-good story would take a tragic turn just months later. On May 7th, 1988, Steven Sandlin was found shot in the Mountainair police station. Unfortunately, he was working from home that night. He was found laying on the floor with his gun right next to him. David Carson — the police chief — arrived on the scene and immediately tried to speak with Steve. Steve was unresponsive to the police chief. EMTs eventually arrived at the scene and got to work trying to keep Steve alive. Tragically, their efforts weren’t successful. Steven Sandlin was pronounced dead after being on the force for just 8 weeks.

One of the first things that investigators did was hone in on the scene. Specifically, they were focused on the location of Steve’s firearm. As mentioned earlier, his gun was right beside him when he was found at the station. Investigators formed the opinion that Steve was shot with his own gun. In other words: the investigators believe that Steve either 1) accidentally shot himself or 2) decided that he was going to commit suicide in the middle of the Mountainair police station. Steve’s family, of course, was not buying this theory. They were certain that he was murdered on the job. Interestingly, James Scarantino — the former Assistant Attorney General also believed that he was murdered that night. Even more, interestingly, Scarantino was fired and replaced with another Assistant Attorney General who would reside over Steve’s case. The allegations of a coverup would understandably follow this case after that move.

Mountainair, New Mexico is an isolated area that is located about 80 miles from Albuquerque. The area was known for its cultivation of marijuana. You would think that the police department would be denser in population under those circumstances; However, steve was just one of four men that worked there. Still, though, Steve was ecstatic and enthusiastic about his start at the job. He would tell his father how much he loved it. His father noted, however, that his attitude toward the job changed shortly after he started. Steve told his father that “something is wrong” when talking about how he felt that the job differed from what he was expecting. His father couldn’t get him to elaborate on what specifically he was talking about.

On the day of the incident, Steve was arguing with the police chief (David) regarding tickets that he’d written. David felt that Steve was burning out and wanted him to take it just a little bit slower on the job. The police station was empty at this time. Steve’s girlfriend — Michelle — was the last person to speak with him before he suffered his gunshot wound. Steven was telling her that David upset him by “yelling at him” and sending him back to the station. He told her that he felt he was being treated as a security guard instead of a respected police officer. Michelle recalled that their phone call was interrupted at around 7:00 pm. She says that a woman (who still remains unidentified) came into the police station at this time. Steve covered the receiver and Michelle was unable to hear the conversation. When Steve came back to the phone, he told his girlfriend that it was no big deal and that he had to go. He hung up the phone shortly after.

Over the next 45 minutes, Steve would be shot.

Steve’s autopsy was inconclusive. It did, however, cast some doubt on the theory that he committed suicide. It appeared that the gun that killed Steve was nearly two feet away from his head when it was fired. There was also barely any traces of gunpowder found on his hand. Neither of those details would be present in the case of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Even with that information, the new Assistant Attorney General wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Steve had committed suicide. Desperate for some answers, his family funded their own investigation.

Both Steves’s father and stepfather believed that he was murdered to keep him quiet about something that he discovered on the job. Early on in Steve’s time as part of the force, he was using an interesting patrol tactic. He would wait outside of bars in the area and arrest patrons who were going to drive under the influence. On April 11th, a month before he died, Steve found a very large bag of marijuana on the floor of one of the vehicles he had pulled over. The driver’s home was searched after a warrant was obtained. The police seized 54 pounds of marijuana (a street value close to 6 figures). Almost immediately, Steve started to receive death threats. It got so bad that he wouldn’t even sleep at home for fear of being hurt. David claims that this isn’t something new for his officers. Whenever they arrested local drug dealers, death threats swiftly followed.

To make matters worse, Steve and the Mountainair Police were now being investigated. There were reports that they were “mishandling evidence”. Their investigation lead to Steve being questioned just days before he died. The authorities searched his house after his death. They made no mention of finding anything out of the ordinary (I mention this for a very good reason). Just three days later, Steve’s girlfriend and his mother were at his house to gather his belongings. In the kitchen, they found several bags of marijuana stashed away in a drawer. They were both confused as to how the authorities never found them as they were very poorly hidden.

The Uncertainty

1. The police chief — David Carson — who found Steve’s body started having his alibi questioned. While David claims that he was at a public function, witnesses reported seeing his car parked outside the police station during the time at which Steve was shot. David, however, denies that he was there and passed a polygraph test.

2. The soldier who found Steve’s body was questioned by an Army investigator. He told the investigator that he would go to jail if he told “the truth”.

3. A police officer from a different precinct allegedly confessed to killing Steve. He is rumored to have said that “if he had kept his nose out of things (he’d) be better off. (Sandlin) wouldn’t have died.” James Scarantino was fired not long after pursuing this lead.

4. Melvin King — the person Steve pulled over and arrested for possession of marijuana had his charges dropped. The confiscated marijuana, however, went missing from the evidence room at the police station.

The Status

In May of 1995, Steve’s cause of death was classified as a homicide. It is still unsolved.