In October of 1863, southwestern Colorado Territory was months into a murder spree that would put any modern serial killer to shame. But Lieutenant Colonel Samuel F. Tappan thought he might well be looking at a chance to end it for good.

Leander Philbrook had stumbled into Fort Garland with word that he had escaped the murderers after they had shot the mules he was driving. He had been traveling by wagon between Trinidad and Costilla with Maria Dolores Sanches when attacked. The man and woman had fled on foot but soon Maria had hidden in some rocks so as not to slow down Philbrook while he searched for help.

A detachment sent by Tappan to rescue the woman met Maria on the way. She was able to confirm that she and Philbrook had been attacked by Felipe Espinosa and his nephew Jose Vincente. She had come out of hiding when a Hispanic man came by driving a cart and was asking him for help when the killers caught her. They told the man to go on his way (after robbing him) and to tell “them” that it was the Espinosas who had killed her when her body was found. They then brutally raped the woman and then tied her to a tree to continue a search for Philbrook, telling her they would come back to rape her some more and kill her after they found the man.