On a late spring day, the quiet landscape near Anton Chico, New Mexico was disturbed by a grim discovery. On May 29, 2021, the body of a man was found on the side of U.S. Highway 84, around milepost 75. The man was identified as 32-year-old Oscar Perez Castaneda of Omaha, Nebraska. An investigation by the New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau was launched after it was determined that he had died from multiple gunshot wounds.
The case was treated as a homicide, prompting an extensive search for the person or persons responsible for his death.
The investigation led authorities to identify a suspect in the shooting. Luis Fernando Lopez-Duran, a 38-year-old resident of Denver, Colorado, became the focus of the homicide investigation. New Mexico State Police investigators were able to track his whereabouts to Colorado. Working with law enforcement agencies in Colorado, an arrest warrant was secured for Lopez-Duran. The collaborative effort included the FBI Denver Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force and the Aurora Colorado Police SWAT Team.
Less than two weeks after Oscar Perez Castaneda's body was found, the suspect was located. On June 9, 2021, Luis Fernando Lopez-Duran was found in the parking lot of a barbershop in Aurora, Colorado. He was taken into custody without incident by the assembled law enforcement teams. Following his arrest, Lopez-Duran was transported to the Aurora Police Department to await extradition back to New Mexico to face charges related to the death of Oscar Perez Castaneda.
