The search for Herman Tsosie, suspected in the fatal shooting of his artist wife in Cortez, has ended with the discovery of his body in the mountains of the Navajo reservation in Arizona, authorities said Tuesday.
Tsosie’s white Ford truck was located Sunday in Rock Point, Ariz., and the New Mexico State Police, who had been assisting, began searching for him by helicopter.
The body of Tsosie, 54, was found late Monday down the face of a cliff, about 1,000 feet below the point where his truck was found, Montezuma County Sheriff Gerald A. Wallace said.
An autopsy is planned to determine the cause of death, Wallace said. It was not known Tuesday if Tsosie took his own life, died accidentally or was killed.
His wife, Anita Tsosie, 48, was an award-winning Navajo weaver whose work appeared on a U.S. Postal Service stamp.
She was found dead outside her home April 9. The Tsosies’ divorce was to become final a day after she was killed, according to court records, and Anita Tsosie had obtained a restraining order against her husband in December.
The couple is survived by a teenage son, Reno Tsosie, and a 21-year-old daughter, Carrie Kay Tsosie.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
