Dulce / Rio Arriba Cattle Mutilations (1976-79).
documentedclose_encounterAnimal Mutilation
The Rio Arriba County (Dulce-area) New Mexico mutilation cluster investigated by Gabe Valdez - the cases that drew in the FBI and became the seed of the Dulce underground-base and Bennewitz conspiracy lore.
[DOCUMENTED] Centered on the Manuel Gomez ranch ~13 mi E of Dulce; cattle mutilations 1976-78, with an April-1979 wave reportedly claiming 16 cows near Dulce (3 officers also reported a military-helicopter-like craft hovering, 8 Apr 1979). Investigated by Gabe Valdez with help from Texas researcher Tom Adams and scientist Howard Burgess. [DOCUMENTED] Part of the FBI's tribal-lands jurisdiction (Jicarilla Apache Reservation cases). [CLAIM] These cases became foundational to the Dulce 'underground alien/military base' mythos and, via the referred 'Myrna Hansen' witness, fed the Paul Bennewitz / Richard Doty disinformation affair documented in Greg Bishop's *Project Beta* and the film/book *Mirage Men*.