Troubled indigent missing since leaving his possessions along Healing Waters Trail last April
Will Waltman graduated from St John's College and worked as a software developer before succumbing to mental illness, paranoia and homelessness.
Tom Sharpe
Tom Sharpe has been a print journalist for most of his life. He grew up in East Texas, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and began coming to New Mexico to work as a forest firefighter out of Questa in 1971. He has worked full-time for the Santa Fe New Mexican, the Santa Fe bureau of the Albuquerque Journal and the Santa Fe Reporter, has freelanced extensively for the Denver Post, Engineering News-Record and Agence France-Presse, and was a press aide for New Mexico Gov. Toney Anaya (1983-86).
Sharpe and his wife Stacy Brown, an artist (paintings and drawings available at Snakestone Studios in Truth or Consequences) and master knitter (knitted toys available at Dust), have six children from previous marriages. They began coming to Truth or Consequences for long weekends away from Santa Fe more than 20 years ago, and after retiring from their jobs and selling their Santa Fe home in 2023, moved to the Truth or Consequences Hot Springs District.
Laid off at 40, Grigulevich reinvents himself as an author of popular Russian nonfiction about South America
Moscow, 1954-1988, With no job prospects in Moscow, Grigulevich begins to write about South America and the Roman Catholic Church, and finds an enthusiastic audience among young Russians interested in the outside world.
Costa Rican couple make a big splash in Roman diplomatic circles, then disappear
Rome, 1948-53. In the most outrageous covert act in the history of espionage, Josif and Laura fake their way into Roman diplomatic society by impersonating wealthy Costa Rican coffee merchants.
Back in Buenos Aires, Yuz settles in with Laura while firebombing German-bound ships
Argentina again, 1941-47: Grigulevich begins his war on Nazis by sabotaging a bookstore, then ships in Buenos Aires harbor heading to Germany. He and Laura head to Brazil after war ends.
Gatekeeper murdered, Siqueiros arrested, Grigulevich splits and another Stalin agent kills Trotsky
Mexico, 1940-41: After the raid, gatekeeper found dead, Siqueiros heads to the hills, Grigulevich returns to Santa Fe with new lover, and another Stalin assassin kills Trotsky with ice axe.
Mexico was a caldron of communism when Trotsky showed up, but its artists were in disagreement
Mexico, 1940. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo welcomed Trotsky to Mexico, but David Siqueiros and his muralists planned to scare him away by raiding his compound.
`Yuz’ accuses New York KGB spies of corruption. sloppy tradecraft and Trotskyism
New York, late 1938 to early 1939. Intercepted spy cables detail how Grigulevich attacked the credibility of the 'legal' Soviet agents in New York, resulting in the office ehief being executed..
Grigulevich would have found Jewish soul brothers and kindred spirits at Capital Pharmacy
Santa Fe, 1938-1940, part 2. Grigulevich might have found friendship at both Capital Pharmacy and Zook's, but the idea that either became a safe house does not square with the facts.Zook’s wasn’t the only drug store Grigulevich got to know in Santa Fe. Eight doors away was Capital Pharmacy, 82 East San Francisco (now the
Secret agent might have found new alias, gigs, digs and girlfriend in Santa Fe
New Mexico, 1938-40. Santa Fe was a place for Grigulevich to cool his heels, develop a new identity for his next assignment, and make a connection with Zook’s drugstore.
Spanish civil war taught Grigulevich about assassination, celebrity and manipulating the media
Spain, 1936-38. Trotskyist became a dividing line in the Spanish Civil War where Grigulevich learned how to manipulate public opinion while doing his first professional killing.
Polyglot, communist convert recruited as spy in Paris and sent to Argentina
Lithuania-Argentina, 1913-1935. Josif Grigulevich grew up in a turbulent world, traded his Karaite Jewish roots for Marxism and accepted an offer to reunite with his father in Argentina, learn Spanish and become a Soviet spy.
How I stumbled onto the story of a secret agent waiting in Santa Fe to kill Trotsky in Mexico
Josif Grigulevich was a Soviet assassin, saboteur and master manipulator of the media and politics in Latin America, Spain, the United States and Italy, 1933 to 1953. During his stint in New Mexico, mid 1938 to early 1940, he laid low, hung out at two pharmacies near the Santa Fe Plaza and might have had a fling with the daughter of one of the owners.