Ruidoso Jewel Thief Gets Himself Busted For Wildfire Burglary

A thief in Ruidoso, New Mexico left all the evidence cops needed while robbing a jewelry store during the 2024 Ruidoso wildfires.

The 2024 wildfires were a terrible time for our friends in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Lives were lost and 1,400 structures were destroyed as the fires burned over 20,000 acres.

On top of that, one guy took advantage of all the confusion to pull off a jewelry heist but he identified himself by leaving crucial evidence behind after breaking into a Ruidoso jewelry store.

During the chaos of the Ruidoso wildfires, as the village was being evacuated, not everybody there came to help. While there are no stories of looting, there was a burglary.

Residents of the Village of Ruidoso are good people who banded together to help one another during and after the disaster. However, someone broke into a jewelry store and police just found the guy.  In jail.

How Was The Ruidoso Jewelry Store Robber Caught?

He basically caught himself. In the aftermath of the wildfires, police noticed that Johnston Jewelry on Sudderth had been broken into. The thief broke a window and smashed cases open stealing jewelry. He would have totally gotten away with it but ...

He cut himself and bled all over the counter. Investigators scraped some up and sent it off to the FBI crime lab who matched the samples to a Ruidoso Downs resident named Uziah Alaniz.

How Did They Find The Jewel Thief?

That was even easier ... he was already in jail for a different crime. NM State Police simply paid him a visit in the Clayton, New Mexico detention facility with a search warrant for a blood sample. That too was sent to the FBI who also matched it to Alaniz.

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According to KVIA, he was then formally charged with "Aggravated Burglary (Deadly Weapon), Possession of Burglary Tools, Larceny (over $20,000), Tampering with Evidence, and Criminal Damage to Property".