News

Body Of Missing Elderly Man Found In Las Cruces Desert

By KVIA ABC-7

Published July 24, 2009 12:07 PM

by ABC-7 reporter/anchor Ashlie Hardway

LAS CRUCES – Las Cruces Police and New Mexico Medical Examiners identify the body found in the desert as 77-year-old Brayton Smoot.

Smoot went missing from the Golden Mesa Retirement Home July 3rd after apparently walking away from the facility. It was the same day his son died from cancer.

Police tell ABC-7, around 5:30 Thursday night a 15-year-old girl was walking in the desert area near the Las Cruces Arroyo by Sonoma Ranch Boulevard when she saw what she thought was a body.

Investigators determined it was Smoot. His family was notified.

Smoot suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

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