While Costilla County is among the least-populated places in the state, it has a murder rate that ranks among the state’s highest.
Officials on Thursday announced another potential homicide Thursday, saying human remains were found in a remote location on private property.
On Aug. 18, the owner of the property on Wild Horse Mesa emailed the district attorney’s office saying he found human remains.
The next day, Colorado Bureau of Investigation investigators went out to the property and confirmed the presence. They say the victim has not been identified, and efforts are underway to identify the deceased person and the circumstances around their death — including the cause of death.
The Wild Horse Mesa area is a remote section of south-central Colorado, with bumpy, unpaved roads.
There is roughly one homicide a year in Costilla County, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, but that county has only 3,000 residents. That gives it the highest homicide rate in the state since 2019 at 18.24 per 100,000 people.
A representative from the Costilla County Sheriff’s Office would not comment on the discovery of human remains but noted that violent crime has risen in the county in recent years. He said people are attracted to the cheap land in the county. The sheriff’s office is among the only law enforcement agencies in the county, and has had trouble hiring — they are down five officers in a 10-officer department.
