Neighbors report longtime problems at home where homicide victim found
Dec. 10—A bullet-riddled body was discovered earlier this week in a Lone Butte home that for years has been the subject of neighbors' complaints about criminal activity.
Sheriff's deputies found Adan Ponce Galdeano dead Tuesday while responding to a report of shots fired at the home — 30 A Arroyo Coyote Road, just off N.M. 14 south of Santa Fe — but they suspect the 26-year-old may have been killed elsewhere and moved to the residence.
It is unclear how long his body was inside the home. However, the sheriff's office said he was reported missing in November.
"We are aware that there have been issues in that area, and that residence has been on our radar," Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday. "We have been patrolling that area and keeping an eye on that residence, and we have ... received and responded to complaints there."
The sheriff's office announced the homicide Thursday evening and identified Ponce Galdeano on Friday. But it has released few other details about the man's death and has not named a suspect or made an arrest.
"We're still trying to determine the motive and the details of the whys and the hows," Mendoza said.
His office is working to determine if the reports of shots fired Tuesday are related to Ponce Galdeano's death. People inside the home were detained, he said.
"We're questioning the individuals that were located at the residence. Right now we're treating everybody as a person of interest, and it's currently under investigation," Mendoza said.
Michael Busse Jr. owns the home, according to Santa Fe County property records.
Busse could not be reached for comment Friday. He has been arrested numerous times over the past few years and charged with battery against a household member along with several charges related to alleged credit card theft and criminal trespass, according to online court records. He was not convicted in most of these cases, although he did plead no contest to the criminal trespass charge in October 2022.
Busse also faces three charges filed in November 2021 related to junk vehicles on his property, extensive litter and a dilapidated building. He is scheduled for a hearing in January.
Some neighbors were worried about the residence long before deputies found Ponce Galdeano shot to death inside it, and multiple residents have been recording the community's concerns.
One neighbor provided The Santa Fe New Mexican a 10-page packet in September titled "Timeline of Neighborhood Reports and Observations re: #30 Arroyo Coyote." The document details a range of incidents near the home from 2019 through Sept. 8.
The grievances and conjectures took on a new level of seriousness when deputies discovered Ponce Galdeano's body.
"It's even ... more disturbing than anything we could have imagined going on over there," said another neighbor, who asked that her name be withheld for fear of retaliation. "This has definitely affected our quality of life."
Some of the details documented in the packet are relatively minor: The home's windows were boarded up in 2019 and there have been sounds of domestic disturbances.
The packet also describes an August 2021 incident in which the neighborhood was placed on lockdown after a report of shots fired led to an hourslong search for Zachery Clough, a man accused of firing a rifle at a woman during an argument.
Clough was arrested and charged with shooting at or from a motor vehicle, possession of a firearm by a felon and tampering with evidence, according to online court records. The charges were dismissed July 7, however, because the state lacked "essential witnesses," court documents say.
One neighbor said the constant public safety concerns involving residents and visitors at 30 A Arroyo Coyote Road have banded them together with worry. The community has called law enforcement numerous times, and officers have been "really responsive," she added.
She believes several people with criminal pasts are living at the home and said there has been "so much activity" at the house since summer.
The renewed activity coincided with the dismissal of Clough's criminal charges, she said.
"That is our greatest concern — that people will be taken into custody, that eventually they'll be released, and they'll just go back to the house and things will continue," she said. "Our real concern right now [is] that things will continue, that that place will be some kind of refuge for this ring of people that are connected to various criminal activities."
Another neighbor said he and his family have been living in Lone Butte in the Arroyo Coyote neighborhood for a few years and is grateful for how the residents have been brought together.
"It's been a blessing to have this community rally together, almost. To have neighbors that are all in constant contact and looking out for each other is something I haven't experienced in other neighborhoods," he said.
He added he is happy to live in such a beautiful area and hopes the danger felt by his neighbors will subside now that issues with the troubling home have reached a "fever pitch."
"I hope it's the final chapter in what's been a slow burn to this tragic moment, and I hope that law enforcement can now put an end to this problematic property whether that's a condemnation of the property, a bulldozing or sale to an owner that really wants to be there for the community and not for illicit activity," he said.
