Highlighted Cases
MISSING PERSONS
Pepita Madalyn Redhair
Pepita Madalyn Redhair, a 27-year-old Native American woman from the Navajo Reservation in Crownpoint, New Mexico, went missing in March 2020. She was last at 1000 Clemente Court SW in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her case has been opened, closed, and transferred among several New Mexico law enforcement agencies, including the Albuquerque Police Department and the New Mexico Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office, as well as the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Public Safety. Currently, the New Mexico Second Judicial District's Office is actively investigating the case, and since January 2024, Homeland has been collaborating with her family to bring Pepita home. A reward is being offered, and this case remains a top priority for Homeland.
Links to more info on Pepita
Please contact these numbers or emails if you have any information that may help find Pepita:
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Albuquerque Police Department (505) 242-2677
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Homeland (505) 927-7571
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Homeland email: homeland@la-tierra.com
Successful Murder Conviction
Nicodemus (Nico) Gonzales
January 24, 1998 — July 31, 2021
On July 31, 2021, NicodemusNico) Gonzales was tragically shot on Chaparro Street in Las Cruces, New Mexico. At just 23 years old, he was a devoted father to a two-year-old son and deeply loved by his family. After attending a party in the 0 block of Chaparro Street, Nico never returned home. Mawu Ekon Revels, aged 17 at the time, and Isaiah James Taylor, then 19, both armed with a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol and a 9mm semiautomatic pistol with lasers, opened fire into the crowd, causing party-goers to flee. Nico was twice and succumbed while trying to flee.
Mawu Ekon Revels was tried as an adult for murder (D-307-YR202100002) and convicted on 18, 2022, while Isaiah James Taylor trial is still pending in the Third Judicial District (D-307-CR-202100633).
Homeland is honored to have supported the Gonzales family this case.
Cassy Marie Brooks Farrington was a mother of two who was 23 years old when she was found dead the bathtub of her Grant County, New Mexico, home in March of 2014. She was a young and vibrant nurse who was proud of her profession and had just been promoted. Her life was full of promise and potential. She was killed by Bradley Farrington, her husband. They were in the midst of a bitter divorce. Homeland entered the case in 2017 (No. D-0608-CR-201500202) as a consultant to the Sixth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
We are proud to have provided litigation support and expert witness testimony in the successful prosecution of Bradley Farrington. The New Mexico Supreme Court upheld his conviction in 2020.The Court clarified the “forfeiture-by-wrongdoing” exception in a judicial rule that permits hearsay statements when prosecutors show a defendant engaged in a wrongful act to prevent a witness from testifying. The State of New Mexico does not have the death penalty. Bradley Farrington was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder, the maximum sentence allowed.
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Steven W. Smelser was only 46 years old when he lost his life in his Doña Ana County, New Mexico home under suspicious circumstances in April 2016.
He was a hard-working man. He was a beloved cowboy, father, son, and brother.
Although the circumstances were suspicious, the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office ruled his death a suicide. It was at this time that Steve's family reached out to Homeland for an in-depth investigation. Although our investigation revealed that the death was a homicide, we were unable to convince the New Mexico Office Of the Medical Investigator (OMI) or local or federal law enforcement to change the official determination to homicide or to get justice for Steve and his family. We did however, successfully litigate two New Mexico Inspection of Public Record Act lawsuits in this case. We are proud to have stood with the family and continue to do so.
See more information by clicking on the following links:
Info from Steve's Family via GoFundMe link
Note from Steve's family:
We hope to see Justice served for our family and Steve. After three years of fighting the local law enforcement and the State Police and OSI we were not able to get Justice for Steve's death. However, we hope that the case will be solved and Justice will be served at some point in the future. With current evidence in hand, the truth will be revealed. If you have any information on this case you would like to share, please contact Quintin McShan.
