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Arnold A. Hofeldt

LAS CRUCES - Authorities are again hoping to talk to a homeless man they think might have information in the November slaying of a 46-year-old Maryland man.

Arnold A. Hofeldt, 51, is not a suspect in the November death of Kermit Earl Feazelle Jr., Do-a Ana County sheriff's Lt. Michael Kinney said Wednesday.

"We want to talk to him," said Kinney, who wouldn't elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.

A Las Cruces Police Department sergeant spotted Hofeldt panhandling near the Thorpe Road exit from Interstate 25 on the evening of Jan. 4, just feet from where Feazelle's body was found on Nov. 16.

Though Hofeldt was wanted on a California arrest warrant charging him with robbery, the warrant did not authorize detention out of state, according to the LCPD report.

Hofeldt told the LCPD sergeant that he had been in Santa Fe for two months and had just learned of his friend's death.

After questioning at the sheriff's office, Hofeldt said he would return to take a polygraph test, but hasn't been seen since Jan. 4, according to a law- enforcement bulletin seeking Hofeldt.

No arrests have been made and criminal charges have yet to be filed in the killing, one of four unsolved murders the sheriff's office handled in 2010.

Feazelle, who was left disabled after being run over by a car as a child, was killed by blunt force trauma, according to the state Office of the Medical Investigator.

Investigators believe Feazelle was killed several weeks before construction

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workers found his body lying in the grass not far from his mobile home, in the 600 block of Thorpe Road.

Hofeldt, who is 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs about 250 pounds, was one of several transients Feazelle associated with in Las Cruces and he is thought to frequently travel to Truth or Consequences.

A $1,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for Feazelle's death.

Anyone with additional information is asked to call Las Cruces Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477) or send a tip via text message to LCTIPS (528477).

The Crime Stoppers numbers are operational 24 hours a day and you do not have to give your name to collect a reward.

Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462.