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LOS LUNAS — The Las Maravillas man accused of stabbing his wife with a pocket knife in February has been indicted by a grand jury on aggravated battery charges.
Dale Nielsen, 43, has been indicted by a grand jury on one count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Valencia County Sheriff’s deputies said he stabbed his wife multiple times with a pocket knife and then took off in his gold Honda Accord.
The next week, on Feb. 20, Nielsen fled from law enforcement officials, who attempted to pull over his vehicle on U.S. 60, according to a press release from the U.S. Marshals Service.
The press release said Nielsen got away and abandoned his car near N.M. 55 and went into the Manzano Mountains on foot.
Multiple agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service, Torrance County Sheriff’s Office, New Mexico State Police and the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office called off the chase due to extreme weather conditions.
Two days later, the U.S. Marshals got a tip Nielsen was in Albuquerque.
Shortly after, Nielsen was arrested after he was found sleeping underneath a bridge crossing over Interstate 40 near Eubank Boulevard on Feb. 22.
After a short foot pursuit, officials from the U.S. Marshals Service took Neilson into custody between Walmart and a Toyota dealership at Eubank and Copper NE.
Nielsen was originally charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery and kidnapping for his alleged role in the incident.
8:54pm 2/22/13 — Wanted violent offender caught after weeklong manhunt
By Patrick Lohmann/Journal Staff Writer
New Mexico’s most wanted violent offender was arrested Friday after a weeklong manhunt that stretched from the wilderness into the big city.
Dale Nielsen, 34, became a fugitive after he allegedly stabbed his wife in the next during a domestic dispute Feb. 11, according to a news release from the US Marshals Service.
Law enforcement officials spread out over Valencia and Torrance counties in hopes of finding him, and they eventually heard he was camping in his car and moving back and forth between Torreon and Mountainair for supplies.
When members of the Marshals’ fugitive apprehension team later saw Nielsen driving in a gold Honda Accord along Highway 60 in Mountainair, sheriff’s deputies tried to conduct a traffic stop. However, Nielsen fled at high speeds and avoided capture.
Investigators were able to locate Nielsen’s vehicle, which was found shortly after abandoned in the mountains off Highway 55. The fugitive’s footprints led into the mountains, so law enforcement officials set off to track him and even enlisted the help of a TV news helicopter.
However, as the sun set and bad weather set in, law enforcement had to abandon the search.
On Feb. 22, the US Marshals got a tip that Nielsen had somehow made it back to Albuquerque. A targeted search expanded across the city through convenience stores, hotels and truck stops.
A few hours later, officers driving near I-40 saw a “suspicious individual” sleeping under a foot bridge that crossed the interstate near Eubank Boulevard.
When officers arrived and identified themselves, Nielsen fled on foot. He was eventually caught and arrested between the Walmart and Toyota dealership near Eubank and Copper NE, the Marshals said in the news release.
Nielsen, finally caught, was taken to a jail in Los Lunas. He will appear before a judge in Valencia County and face new charges, including attempted murder.
“Despite the repeated attempts to evade capture by eluding members of the SWIFT task force throughout many communities and dense mountain forests, and after several days of intense investigation, the trail ended for this fugitive,” said Conrad Candelaria, United States Marshal in the District of New Mexico, in the news release.
