March 4, 2025
During a detention hearing on March 3, 2025, Valerie Cordell was held without bond until trial by District Court Judge, the Honorable Jennifer E. DeLaney. Valerie Cordell is facing 16 Counts of Child Abuse and 1 Count of Conspiracy to Commit Child Abuse. Cordell’s husband Melvin Cordell is awaiting his detention hearing. Both parents are charged and awaiting trial in the Luna County Detention Center
On October 23rd, 2024, New Mexico State Police had been alerted to a case of sexual assault of a child that led to an investigation of abuse involving seven children found living in deplorable conditions on a semi-remote property in Luna County. On February 21, 2025, two adults, Melvin Cordell and Valerie Cordell were arrested. The 7 children ranging in age from six months to sixteen years old were placed in protective custody with the state.
Authorities were originally alerted about a child who was sexually assaulted since she was 13, over the course of 4 years by her father, Melvin Cordell. During the 4-month investigation, agents learned that the family of 9 was living on a 35-acre site, located in a semi-rural portion of Luna County, near Deming. Investigating officers described it as an inhumane, squalid scene. A dilapidated trailer, several unlivable camping trailers, broken-down vehicles, boxes of rotting food, bags of trash, along with buckets located all around the property filled with human feces. The children were found in filthy conditions, they lived outside, year-round, sleeping on a mattress in a semi-underground cave, with tunnels from 4 to 6 feet in length or took shelter in the broken-down vehicles. They were unbathed and wearing dirty clothing. The older siblings told the investigating officers that they never had enough to eat and were sometimes punished by withholding food for several hours to sometimes, days.
