LAS CRUCES – Police reports obtained by the Las Cruces Sun-News confirm that the body found in a drainage ditch last month belonged to an unhoused man.
Police believe John Henry Bloomquist, 54, was discovered dead on Aug. 8 in a ditch near Lohman Avenue.
Bloomquist had recently been in trouble with the law and picked up four charges of battery on a health care worker last July. Court records show that Bloomquist was at Memorial Medical Center undergoing treatment for opium withdrawal. At that time, police believe he struck four healthcare workers, including a doctor he’d allegedly punched in the face.
A judge dismissed those charges after ruling Bloomquist incompetent to stand trial.
Bloomquist had picked up similar charges in April. In that case, police said Bloomquist walked into the Medical Memorial Center emergency room and told a nurse he needed space to relax. When the nurse rejected the request, police said Bloomquist swung at the nurse and damaged a thermostat before hospital security detained him.
Those charges were dismissed last week when the court learned of Bloomquist’s death.
According to police reports obtained by the Sun-News via a public records request, an area homeowner called police after three men told the homeowner they’d discovered a body. Two officers — including officer-trainee Arnie Martinez — responded to the call around 1:30 p.m
As Martinez reviewed the area, she called out to the man lying face down in the ditch. Bloomquist, covered by a sleeping bag, had fluids exuding from his mouth. Hanging on the wall of the drainage ditch next to Bloomquist were court documents from his case in April.
Three men questioned
Initially, police believed the death could have been a homicide.
The homeowner who called the police had said that other men who knew of the death described it as killing. Those men, three in total, had gone to Young Park, according to a police report written by Lt. Eric Urenda.
“Initially, it was believed that the male individual (Bloomquist) that was deceased had been cut and that the potential suspect had taken off with a machete in his hands,” Urenda said in his police report. “However, no machete was located.”
Officers detained three men during the search, according to multiple reports. However, interviews with the men suggested to police that Bloomquist’s death was not caused by foul play, according to a police report written by Det. Kenneth Davis.
As other officers searched the area, rain began to pour. Martinez wrote in her police report that the drainage ditch quickly swelled with water.
“The water began to move the body,” she said.
After pulling the body from the flooding drainage ditch, Martinez wrote that personnel arrived from the Office of the Medical Examiner and took Bloomquist’s body away.
Bloomquist’s cause of death remains unclear. The Sun News is awaiting receipt of any autopsy reports to better clarify the cause of death.
Others are reading:
Justin Garcia is a public safety reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at JE [email protected]
Comments are closed.