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October 11, 2000Ex-Detective Solved 80% of Cases
By Jeff Jones
Journal Staff Writer
Rick Foley
Rick Foley hasn't been a coach by trade, but he's racked up an impressive record nonetheless.
In his 13 years as an Albuquerque Police Department homicide investigator, Foley was the lead detective in 98 killings. And he says all but 16 of them more than 80 percent were solved.
The 39-year-old Foley retired in June. Although he no longer carries an APD badge, he's still doing detective work: He's now employed by Robert Caswell Investigations, a private company that investigates incidents for city and county governments involved in lawsuits.
Foley said solving a murder involves "a lot of good luck and a lot of hard work." Having a good partner and being a good listener are some keys to success, he said, and treating everyone with respect including murder suspects has helped him get vital information and confessions.
Foley said he recalled one case in which he and a fellow detective interviewed a man they believed might have information about a killing in the university area.
"We had virtually no evidence, no witnesses," Foley said, and "he was not a suspect."
But "during the interview, he ended up confessing. You try not to act surprised because you want him to continue talking."
Foley recalled another case involving a man who had gone to someone's house to test drive a truck. Although the man had an easy opportunity to steal the truck during the test drive, Foley said, he returned to the house sometime later, shot the owner in front of his family and left in the truck.
Foley was on the team of investigators that handled the March 1996 Hollywood Video slayings, in which five people were killed and two others were later convicted. But he's quick to point out there were less-publicized homicides that same week, and some of those remain unsolved.
Foley was married less than a month before he retired and says his new job gives him more time to follow his hobbies photography and riding his new Harley-Davidson motorcycle with former partner, fellow Harley owner and current APD violent-crimes detective Carla Gandara.
"It's therapeutic," Foley said of his 1996 motorcycle. "When you ride a Harley, you tend to relax and forget your problems."
If there's a former newsmaker you would like us to track down, contact Ellen Marks at 823-3842 or emarks@abqjournal.com.
