{"id":15218,"date":"2025-12-16T21:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T04:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/more-information-released-on-california-couple-found-dead-in-bisti-badlands\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:46:29","slug":"more-information-released-on-california-couple-found-dead-in-bisti-badlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/more-information-released-on-california-couple-found-dead-in-bisti-badlands\/","title":{"rendered":"More information released on California couple found dead in Bisti Badlands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office is investigating the death of a California woman who was found Oct. 31 by a family of hikers on a remote trail in the Bisti\/De-Na-Zin Wilderness about 24 miles south of Bloomfield. (Google screenshot)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A message written in the sand gave San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office investigators insight into what might have happened to an elderly couple from Hemet, California, who died recently in the Bisti Badlands south of Farmington<\/p>\n

Katherine Stukenberg, 81, was found dead Oct. 31 in the Bisti Badlands by hikers about 1.3 miles south of the parking area.<\/p>\n

Her husband, Gerald Francis Stukenberg, 86, was found 10 hours later with the help of the sheriff\u2019s helicopter, Detective Lt. Gary Mauldin said in a Dec. 15 interview with the Tri-City Record.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe flew out there the next day, when the sun came up,\u201d Mauldin said. \u201cThe helicopter found him. He had a bright red shirt on.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was 1.35 miles from where Katherine was discovered.<\/p>\n

Near Gerald\u2019s body, investigators found writing in the dirt: \u201cHelp, husband ill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mauldin believes the couple was hiking in the Bisti when Gerald suffered a medical emergency.<\/p>\n

Katherine might have \u201cstayed with him too long, and then might have gotten too cold overnight\u201d while trying to hike back to the vehicle, he said.<\/p>\n

The cause of death for both will remain unknown until an autopsy is completed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a crime,\u201d Mauldin said, adding it is not a rare occurrence for the location.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would guess half of our search and rescues or more are in the Bisti,\u201d he said, adding, \u201c50 percent of our callouts for the helicopter are for the Bisti Badlands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some calls involve experienced hikers, but others involve visitors unfamiliar with New Mexico\u2019s changing weather patterns.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople get turned around easily out there,\u201d Mauldin said. \u201cThey start their hike during the day and maybe don\u2019t bring enough water, or they stay out until after dark and get too cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being prepared and staying safe is important when visiting the Bisti Badlands, Mauldin said.<\/p>\n

This is also a message the city of Farmington hopes to convey in its new exhibit about the Story of Farmington.<\/p>\n

When Peter Lam, a senior exhibition designer, project manager and licensed architect from Reich & Petch, gave his presentation to the Farmington City Council on Dec. 9, he said, \u201cThe exhibit traces the forces that shape the land in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said it will \u201cshowcase amazing natural resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, along with those resources and the promotion of outdoor recreation, Lam said the exhibit \u201cwill make sure they are practicing safe and respectful practices while they are on public and sacred lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Stukenbergs\u2019 case, \u201cthey seemed prepared,\u201d Mauldin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had compasses. They had charts. \u2026 They probably hiked 4 or 5 miles before this happened,\u201d Mauldin said.<\/p>\n

Katherine was found with her purse nearby, and Mauldin said sheriff\u2019s investigators contacted her sister, who said it was typical for the Stukenbergs to take trips lasting weeks without checking in.<\/p>\n

Mauldin said it could take up to a year for the Sheriff\u2019s Office to receive a cause-of-death report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

wife left message written in the sand <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15218"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19541,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15218\/revisions\/19541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15218"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}