Clifton Duane Bloomfield – Serial Killer
Overview
Clifton Duane Bloomfield is an American serial killer whose known murders occurred in Albuquerque, New Mexico, between October 2005 and June 2008. Bloomfield ultimately admitted responsibility for five murders committed during four separate incidents. His victims ranged from a 37-year-old man to an elderly married couple, and the crimes included strangulation, violent home invasions, beatings, robbery, and a fatal shooting carried out during a mistaken-identity attack.
Bloomfield had an extensive criminal history long before he was identified as a serial murderer. Raised in Arizona, he repeatedly came into contact with the criminal justice system beginning when he was young and eventually spent years incarcerated for serious crimes. After being released from prison in 2002, he moved into the Albuquerque area and worked at various jobs, including roofing. For a period he also found work as a film extra. By the time investigators understood the full extent of his crimes, Bloomfield had been moving between ordinary employment, criminal activity, incarceration, and murder for several years.
The Murder of Carlos Esquibel
Bloomfield's first confirmed murder occurred on October 24, 2005. The victim was 37-year-old Carlos Esquibel of Albuquerque. According to Bloomfield's later account of the crime, the two men encountered each other after Bloomfield had been at a restaurant in Albuquerque and eventually went to Esquibel's apartment on Walter Street SE.
Once inside the apartment, Bloomfield attacked Esquibel in the bedroom. He strangled him using Esquibel's own shirt. After killing him, Bloomfield searched the apartment for property that he could steal before leaving the scene. Esquibel's body was subsequently discovered at the apartment.
The killing initially appeared to police to be an isolated homicide. Investigators did not yet know that another strangulation murder would occur only three days later or that the same man was responsible for both deaths.
The Murder of Josephine Selvage
On October 27, 2005, just three days after Esquibel's murder, 81-year-old Josephine Selvage was killed inside her Albuquerque home on Bellrose Avenue. Selvage was a retired schoolteacher. Bloomfield later described entering her residence while looking for property to steal.
According to accounts of his confession, Bloomfield entered the house and began going through the residence, including a purse and other areas where valuables might be kept. He took jewelry before encountering Selvage. Bloomfield overpowered the elderly woman and strangled her with an article of clothing.
Police found Selvage dead inside the home and initially treated the death as suspicious while awaiting further medical findings. Because Esquibel had also been strangled only days earlier and lived in the same general area, investigators considered whether the murders could be connected. At the time, however, authorities ultimately concluded that the cases were unrelated. It would take years before Bloomfield's admissions established that the same killer had committed both murders.
Home Invasion and Imprisonment
Bloomfield's criminal activity continued after the two 2005 murders. Later that year he committed an armed home invasion involving an elderly couple in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. He forced his way into the situation with a firearm and stole money. Bloomfield was eventually arrested in Texas by federal authorities and returned to New Mexico.
He pleaded guilty in connection with the home invasion and spent approximately 18 months incarcerated. The imprisonment temporarily interrupted his series of known murders. After his release, however, Bloomfield returned to the Albuquerque area and once again found employment.
Work as a Movie Extra
One of the most unusual aspects of Bloomfield's case was his involvement in the New Mexico film industry during the period between his murders. He obtained work as an extra in the prison drama Felon, which was filmed in New Mexico and released in 2008. Bloomfield portrayed a prisoner in the movie.
When he worked on the production in 2007, Bloomfield had already murdered Carlos Esquibel and Josephine Selvage. Those killings remained unsolved, and the people working around him on the production had no indication that an actual murderer was among the performers portraying prison inmates. Only after Bloomfield's crimes became public did members of the production learn about his background.
The Murders of Tak and Pung Yi
On December 4, 2007, Bloomfield committed the double murder of Tak Yi, 79, and his wife Pung Yi, 69. The couple lived in the 6900 block of Avenida la Costa NE in Albuquerque's Northeast Heights and were respected members of Albuquerque's Korean community.
Bloomfield entered the Yi residence through a sliding glass door. Tak Yi confronted the intruder and attempted to defend himself. The confrontation became extremely violent. Tak and Pung Yi suffered massive injuries and were killed inside their home. Their bodies were discovered later that day after a family member became concerned when the couple failed to keep plans with their children.
The Yi investigation initially went in the wrong direction. Two door-to-door magazine salesmen, Travis Rowley and Michael Lee, had been working in the neighborhood around the time of the killings. Both became suspects, and investigators obtained statements that caused authorities to believe they had solved the case. The men were charged with the murders.
Physical evidence eventually pointed elsewhere. DNA recovered from the Yi crime scene was later connected to Bloomfield. Particularly important was biological evidence associated with Tak Yi's effort to fight his attacker. When the DNA was eventually compared with Bloomfield's profile, investigators obtained a forensic connection between him and the double homicide.
Bloomfield subsequently admitted killing the Yis. The case against Rowley and Lee eventually collapsed, and the murder charges against them were dismissed. Their wrongful implication in the case later generated litigation and criticism concerning the original investigation.
The Murder of Scott Pierce
The final confirmed murder committed by Bloomfield occurred on June 28, 2008. The victim was 40-year-old Scott Pierce, a newlywed living with his wife, Katherine Bailey, in Albuquerque's Northeast Heights. Pierce had married only days before he was killed.
The murder was not originally planned as an attack on Pierce. Bloomfield was working with an accomplice, Jason Skaggs. The men intended to attack and kill another man, commonly identified in accounts of the case as "Manny." Pierce and Bailey had recently acquired a house previously associated with the intended target. Bloomfield and Skaggs went to the residence believing they would find the man they were seeking.
Armed and wearing masks, the men entered the home during the early morning hours. Instead, they encountered Pierce and his wife. Bloomfield fatally shot Pierce. Katherine Bailey survived. The killing was therefore the result of a planned violent attack directed at another person but carried out at the wrong residence against an innocent man who had no connection to the dispute motivating the intended killing.
Pierce's murder became the crime that finally brought Bloomfield's killing history into focus. Investigators quickly developed information connecting Jason Skaggs to the attack. Skaggs in turn led authorities to Bloomfield.
Arrest and the DNA Breakthrough
Bloomfield and Skaggs were arrested on July 1, 2008, only three days after Scott Pierce was killed. During the investigation, authorities searched Bloomfield's residence and recovered evidence consistent with the Pierce home invasion, including a shotgun and items associated with disguising himself during the crime.
Once Bloomfield was in custody, detectives began looking more closely at whether he could be responsible for other unsolved murders. The examination of DNA evidence produced the major breakthrough. Evidence from the December 2007 murders of Tak and Pung Yi matched Bloomfield.
Faced with the forensic evidence, Bloomfield began admitting to additional crimes. His statements led investigators backward through the unsolved cases and eventually connected him to the October 2005 murders of Carlos Esquibel and Josephine Selvage. The admissions transformed what had appeared to be several independent Albuquerque homicide investigations into the crimes of one serial offender.
Confirmed Victims
- Carlos Esquibel, 37 – October 24, 2005 – Albuquerque, New Mexico: Esquibel was killed inside his apartment on Walter Street SE. Bloomfield strangled him with Esquibel's shirt and searched the apartment for valuables after the murder.
- Josephine Selvage, 81 – October 27, 2005 – Bellrose Avenue, Albuquerque, New Mexico: The retired schoolteacher was killed inside her home three days after Esquibel. Bloomfield entered the residence while looking for valuables and strangled Selvage with an article of clothing.
- Tak Yi, 79 – December 4, 2007 – 6900 block of Avenida la Costa NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico: Yi was attacked after confronting Bloomfield during a home invasion. He suffered fatal head injuries. Evidence from his struggle with Bloomfield later became important in identifying the actual killer.
- Pung Yi, 69 – December 4, 2007 – 6900 block of Avenida la Costa NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico: Pung Yi was killed along with her husband inside their Northeast Albuquerque residence. The couple's murders were initially blamed on two other men before DNA evidence connected Bloomfield to the scene.
- Scott Pierce, 40 – June 28, 2008 – Northeast Heights, Albuquerque, New Mexico: Pierce was shot and killed during an armed home invasion committed by Bloomfield and Jason Skaggs. The attackers had intended to kill another man and entered Pierce's residence because of a mistaken connection to their intended target. Pierce had been married only days earlier.
Guilty Plea and Sentence
By the time prosecutors assembled the cases, Bloomfield faced overwhelming evidence, including his own admissions and forensic evidence. In October 2008, he pleaded guilty to a series of charges that included five counts of first-degree murder. The plea arrangement eliminated the possibility of the death penalty while guaranteeing that he would spend the remainder of his life in prison.
Bloomfield received five life sentences plus an additional 45 years, a punishment also commonly described as totaling 195 years of imprisonment. His convictions covered the five murders as well as additional offenses arising from his violent criminal activity.
Jason Skaggs was prosecuted separately for his role in the Scott Pierce murder. He pleaded guilty to charges that included second-degree murder, aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon, conspiracy, and criminal solicitation to commit murder. Skaggs received a sentence of approximately 30 and one-half years.
Attempts to Withdraw His Guilty Plea
Years after accepting responsibility for the five killings, Bloomfield attempted to undo his guilty plea. He filed a petition seeking post-conviction relief and argued that his plea should be withdrawn. New Mexico prosecutors opposed the effort, maintaining that the original court record demonstrated that Bloomfield had entered the plea knowingly and that his later claims did not justify reopening the convictions.
In May 2017, a judge rejected Bloomfield's attempt to withdraw the plea. The decision left the five murder convictions and his lengthy sentence intact.
Significance of the Bloomfield Case
The Clifton Bloomfield case demonstrated how a serial offender's crimes can remain separated in police files when the circumstances surrounding individual killings appear different. Esquibel and Selvage were strangled in 2005, the Yis were violently killed during a home invasion in 2007, and Pierce was shot during a planned attack involving an accomplice in 2008. On the surface, the crimes did not all follow a single obvious pattern.
The murders were ultimately connected through a combination of confession, investigative work, and forensic DNA evidence. The Yi case was particularly significant because two innocent suspects had already been charged. Once Bloomfield's DNA was identified and he confessed, authorities were forced to reconsider the earlier investigation and eventually abandon the prosecutions of the men originally accused.
Bloomfield's five confirmed victims died over a period of nearly three years, with a substantial interruption caused in part by his incarceration for a separate home invasion. His ability to return to ordinary employment between violent crimes, including appearing as a movie extra after already committing two murders, became one of the most unsettling details to emerge after his arrest.
Ultimately, the June 2008 mistaken-identity murder of Scott Pierce brought the series to an end. That investigation led police to Bloomfield, the DNA connection exposed his responsibility for the Yi murders, and his subsequent admissions supplied answers in the unsolved deaths of Carlos Esquibel and Josephine Selvage. Bloomfield was formally held responsible for five murders and sentenced to spend the remainder of his life in prison.
