FBI adds 1994 cash-courier killed to wanted list

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - It was a hot summer morning in August 1994, and Jeff Oelcher, 28, and his partner Chuck Mills are driving a rented van with $100,000 in cash on a desolate back road. Their usual armored truck was in the shop.

The two are on their regular route for Wells Fargo, driving down State Route 6 between Los Lunas and Interstate 40 when they're ambushed by two men.

A shooter lying in the bed of a pickup truck parked alongside the road opens fire with an assault weapon hitting Oelcher and sending the van skidding to a stop.

Mills fires back at the two would-be robbers, chasing them off. He saved the cash, but it was too late for Oelcher.

The Rio Rancho man died leaving behind two young children.

Eighteen years later the FBI is still trying to find out who shot him.

"This was a particularly heinous case," said FBI Special Agent Frank Fisher. "This was a young man in the very early part of his life, in his 20s, who was shot for no apparent reason."

A KRQE News 13 On Special Assignment report in July brought new attention and leads although not enough to solve the crime.

In addition to offering a $20,000 reward, the FBI now features the case along with five others on its Wanted page for Albuquerque.  The FBI is hoping that will be enough to dredge up tips.

"Somewhere out there is a murderer who killed Jeff Oelcher, or there is somebody who knows who that murderer is, and we want to talk to them," Fisher said.

Anyone with information on the case and contact the FBI's Albuquerque 24-hour tip line at (505) 889-1300