Cops have leads in case of chopped-up man

CARLSBAD, N.M. (KRQE) - Carlsbad police Wednesday revealed more about an 88-year-old man found dismembered and buried in his back yard.

Police said the man lived with family, but it was a family member living out of state who reported him missing last week. Now, investigators are trying to piece together exactly what happened.

It was Friday afternoon when Carlsbad Police got a call from  Thomas Allumbaugh's grandson in Virginia.

"He hadn't seen or heard from his grandfather in quite some time, so he was calling asking us to look into his whereabouts," Lt. Jennifer Moyers of the Carlsbad Police Department said.

In fact, he told detectives he hadn't seen his grandfather in years.

Police said Allumbaugh lived with his wife and son in the 2000 block of North Canal Street. Neighbors said the street is usually quiet and that the family had been there roughly three years.

"I think they pretty well kept to themselves," said one neighbor who wanted to remain unidentified.  "This neighborhood here doesn't really socialize too much together."

But, what started as a missing-person case led police to a disturbing find on Sunday.  When investigators served a search warrant they found Allumbaugh's body mutilated and buried in trash bags in separate places in his backyard.

"It's kind of shocking to hear something like that goes on in your neighborhood," said one neighbor.

At this point in the investigation police will not say what exactly led them to search the backyard, just that they received a tip Allumbaugh was possibly buried there.  

"It's very unusual, very unusual.  It is concerning," said Moyers, who added police do have persons of interest.  No one has been arrested in the case.
    
Police said neither Allumbaugh's son nor his wife had reported him missing. Moyers said police cannot reveal at who they are looking at as far as persons of interest in the case.

The family is cooperating with the investigation, she said.
     
Detectives said they had to dig to find Allumbaugh's body. Exactly how long he'd been there, or what led to his death remains a mystery.

"We're continuing to do interviews," Moyers said.  "Once the cause of death comes back we'll be able to put more things together."

It wasn't that long ago that Carlsbad had another strange death case involving an elderly man. In January of 2011 the body of James Sharpe, 84, was found in a freezer in his wife's home after her death.
 
Investigators determined she had hidden his death to continue collecting his Social Security checks. KRQE News 13 asked investigators if that could be the situation in this case, and they said they couldn't comment.