Deputies search ditch for missing woman

POLVADERA, N.M. (KRQE) - The boyfriend of a Socorro County woman reported her missing after finding her shoe on a ditch bank, according to the county sheriff's department.

Lilly Lopez, 33, is from Lemitar north of Socorro. The sheriff's department was notified on Sunday that Lopez had not been seen since Wednesday April 15.

The boyfriend to investigators he and Lopez had been drinking at her home. Lopez stayed behind was walking along the ditch when the boyfriend made a beer run, and she was gone when he and the friend returned.

They thought nothing of her absence until Sunday morning when Lopez's daughter called asking where her mother was.

The boyfriend told deputies he thought Lilly was in Albuquerque but called them after finding Lopez's shoe on the ditch bank near his home on Sunday.

The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District shut off water to the ditch to let deputies search the area from Polvadera to Socorro Tuesday and Wednesday.

Lopez is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 145 pounds.  She has brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a gray coat, pink or red top, blue jeans and gray hiking shoes when last seen.

Anyone with information on Lopez can contact the Socorro County Sheriffs' Department at 575-835-0941.

(Corrected:  Early information on this disappearance reported Lopez was last seen at a home in Polvadera north of Lemitar.  Information released later by authorities indicated Lopez disappeared in Lemitar.)