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Category: Movies made in New Mexico

“I Survived BTK” A Story of the Quest for Redemption

“I Survived BTK” A Story of the Quest for Redemption

One of the first scenes in the documentary “I Survived BTK” (also known as “Feast of the Assumption: BTK and the Otero Family Murders”) is Charlie Otero speaking from prison where he was serving a 44-month sentence after accepting a deal to plead guilty for aggravated battery. The scene is ironic but telling. Otero’s life was upended when his parents and two young siblings, ages 11 and 9 were murdered by Dennis Rader, Wichita’s BTK killer. Charlie at age 15…

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“The Silence of Cricket Coogler” and Corruption at the Highest Levels

“The Silence of Cricket Coogler” and Corruption at the Highest Levels

The murder of Ovida “Cricket” Coogler in Las Cruces in 1949 rocked New Mexico’s political machine and sent reverberations throughout the country. Coogler was an 18-year-old waitress whose body was found in a field south of Las Cruces by some rabbit hunters. She had been raped and run over repeatedly by a car. As the press, particularly Walt Finley, working for the El Paso Herald Post, started digging into the murder, corruption from the local sheriff “Happy” Apodaca all the…

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Off the Map Right on Target

Off the Map Right on Target

“Off the Map” (2003), starring Joan Allen, Sam Elliott, J. K. Simmons, Jim True-Frost and Valentina de Angelis, directed by Campbell Scott, screenplay by Joan Ackermann, based on her play of the same name. Filming locations in New Mexico include the junction of US 285 and NM 567 in Taos, Albuquerque, Carson National Forest and San Cristobal. Warning: Rated PG-13 for brief scene of nudity. While some viewers may think this film is slow-moving, the fact that it is based…

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