In the quiet community of Corrales, New Mexico, the life of 27-year-old Stephen Vanrensselear Hotchkiss came to a violent end on November 18, 1974. Inside a trailer, he was shot and killed by his wife, Terri Hotchkiss. The account she gave to authorities was one of self-defense. She claimed that her husband had attacked her with a lead-filled, homemade blackjack, and that she had to be hospitalized for severe injuries she sustained during the alleged assault.
The Sandoval County
Sheriff's department investigated the shooting. One deputy, Carlos Pino, who was at the scene, would later recall a chaotic picture, stating there were "bullet holes all over the trailer and casings scattered all over the place." Following the investigation, the case was presented to a Sandoval County grand jury. Ultimately, the grand jury declined to indict Terri Hotchkiss, ruling that the shooting was a case of justifiable homicide. With that decision, she was never prosecuted for the death of her husband.
For years, the story of Stephen Hotchkiss's death remained a closed chapter. However, questions surrounding that day in 1974 resurfaced years later when Terri, then known as Terri Gilbert, was charged with the murder of her third husband, Eugene Gilbert, in 1996. During her trial for Gilbert's death, the earlier shooting of Hotchkiss was a point of interest, though the jury was only told that she had previously "fired a handgun in self-defense" and that Eugene Gilbert was aware of this fact. This information was limited to prevent prejudice. A prosecutor in the Gilbert case later expressed his belief that the jury would have reached a different conclusion if they had been privy to the full details of Stephen Hotchkiss's death. Terri Gilbert was ultimately found not guilty in the death of Eugene Gilbert. No arrests or suspects, other than Terri Hotchkiss's initial involvement and subsequent clearance by the grand jury, have ever been named in the death of Stephen Vanrensselear Hotchkiss.
