Richard Milan, a 64-year-old male from Kalamazoo, Michigan, was visiting Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife in the fall of 2018. On the evening of September 27th, while walking the couple's dog, he had an encounter with a group of five teenagers. The interaction escalated into a verbal altercation, which tragically ended with Richard Milan being shot and killed.
The investigation into his death led police to a group of youths that included 17-year-old Zachary Gutierrez, another teen
named Jesus Arrieta-Perez, and three teenage girls. Initially, members of the group implicated Gutierrez as the shooter. Based on these initial statements, he was arrested and subsequently charged with second-degree murder. It appeared as though justice for Richard Milan's death would be swift.
However, as the case proceeded to trial, the narrative began to shift. Two of the three girls who were present during the shooting recanted their original statements. During Zachary Gutierrez's murder trial, they testified that it was, in fact, Jesus Arrieta-Perez who had fired the fatal shot. Gutierrez himself also took the stand and maintained that Arrieta-Perez was the one who killed Milan. The credibility of Arrieta-Perez, who had initially told police he didn't see who shot Milan, was also called into question, especially after he changed his story and named Gutierrez as the shooter following his own arrest on an unrelated federal weapons charge. Despite the conflicting testimonies and lingering questions, the murder weapon was never recovered. On July 16, 2021, Zachary Gutierrez was acquitted of Richard Milan's murder. As of late 2021, no one else had been charged in connection with the killing, leaving the case unresolved.
