Wheeler Cowperthwaite
For the Artesia Daily Press
Rio Arriba County Sheriff Billy Merrifield was a little obsessive when it came to cleanliness.
“He was neurotic with hand sanitizer and wipes,” his mother, Lana Merrifield, said in an interview.
As a deputy, that meant wearing gloves any time he did a search, handled evidence, dealt with a suspect.
“I think I’m the one that got him neurotic like that,” she said, as she suffers from the autoimmune disease lupus, and instilled a deep level of cleanliness in her children.
A year after the 50-year-old’s death from an overdose of fentanyl and alcohol, Lana Merrifield said New Mexico State Police detectives have assured her they will not let the case go cold, and they have some leads, but they haven’t given her any details.
“Being that, the position that he held, it was a very dangerous job and he already had several death threats that the FBI looked into,” she said. “I know he would have never touched drugs, ever.”
State Police did not respond to a request for comment and follow-up information on the case.
“I told the detective, even though we may not ever come up with a conviction, but he needs his name cleared,” she said. “He never ever touched drugs and taught his officers, always put your gloves on, they would double glove.”
She said she has her theories as her son “wasn’t afraid say no to the other people,” including politicians at all levels of government.
The details of the case are what bother her, like him drinking alcohol out of a soda can.
Billy Merrifield was found dead near his Abiquiú Lake home in his patrol vehicle on April 20, 2025.
“Bud light, yes, but he didn’t drink sodas,” she said. “He liked his Monster, things that give you energy, because he worked a lot, if he wasn’t at his desk, he was at a meeting, and what little bit of vacation he got, he was on his Harley or going with his buddies to the Bahamas. When he became sheriff, he didn’t have time for vacations.”
The only way he could have consumed the fentanyl was if it was slipped to him, she said.
“The only thing in his system was the alcohol from the night before, and not that much, a minute amount, and it said on the thing, it was a grain of salt’s worth of fentanyl and coffee, so I think someone slipped it into his coffee,” she said. “He’d gotten up and showered. I have his clothes, they’re not dirty.”
As to who is responsible, is hard to say because a sheriff makes a lot of enemies.
“Could have been politics, could have been cartel, or could have been someone else entirely,” Lana Merrifield said.
According to the autopsy report, Billy Merrifield had a blood alcohol level of 0.07, just below the legal per se limit for someone to be convicted of drunk driving.
The level of fentanyl in his system was 23 nanograms per milliliter, near the level of 26 that a 2012 study found to be present in overdose deaths before the drug became widely available and popular, when it was still mostly used in patches for cancer patients.
The effects of fentanyl, a depressant, are “amplified when fentanyl is taken in combination with other central nervous system depressants” like alcohol, according to the autopsy report.
The amount in his system was so little, it was indicative of someone who is exposed for the first time, not someone who regularly uses opioids and has a tolerance, Lana Merrifield said.
A Need to Help Single Moms
When Billy Merrifield a child, he saw his mother beat up “pretty badly” by her boyfriend.
“He swore then, at 7, he was going to be an officer and not let men do those things to the kids’ mamas,” she said.
Growing up with a single mom, he had a special place in his heart for them, going out of his way to pay bills for single moms he knew.
Even as a 2-year-old, he wanted to help his mom.
When he was 2, she had the hood of her Volkswagen Beatle up, working on it. Then, she smelled gas and looked down.
“He had the wire cutters and told me, ‘I fixed the Volkswagen momma,’” she said. “He cut the gas line into so many pieces. He was a character, a character.”
He started walking at 7 months old, making him hard to keep up with.
“You’d constantly turn around, and ask, ‘Where’s Billy?’” she said.
Just a few weeks after cutting the gas line, he got into her truck. He knew the shifter made the car move, so he pushed it, putting it in neutral.
“We lived on a hill and it rolled down, barely missed the landlord’s Cadillac and stopped after it bumped a tree,” she said. “He was sitting on the floorboards, and said, ‘Can I do that again?’ He was hard to keep up with.”
Worrying Everyday
Lana Merrifield worried about her first born son everyday.
“I never really thought the rock of our family would fall,” she said.
She didn’t want to believe the news when she first heard, or for a long time after.
“I kept thinking he faked his death except (my family) dressed him for his viewing,” she said.
Billy Merrifield’s death threw her health into a tailspin, as her lupus flared and only in the last three months has she been doing better.
“I try to keep my mind off of it, as he wouldn’t want us to be sad,” she said. “He’s with his sister and his daughter now, he’s in St. Michael’s army, I know that, as St. Michael is his saint.”
Memorial Cruise
A memorial cruise honoring the former sheriff will be Sunday (4/19). Those who want to participate should meet at 11 a.m. at Century Bank. The ride will start at noon from North Riverside Drive to East Fairview Lane and to North Paseo de Oñate. Food and refreshments can be purchased afterward at the Cities of Gold Casino Hotel ballroom, where Heartless and a DJ will provide entertainment.
