Breaking: Border Rancher Rob Krentz And Dog Found Shot To Death

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Reward Offered for Arrest in Arizona Rancher's Killing
After Rober Krentz was gunned down while tending to his ranch Saturday morning, police suspect an illegal immigrant is to blame and a $15,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.
The Arizona Cattle Growers' Association is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who fatally shot a prominent southeast Arizona rancher.
The body of 58-year-old Robert Krentz was located before midnight Saturday on his 35,000-acre ranch about 35 miles northeast of Douglas. He was out checking water line and fencing on the land Krentz's family has ranched since 1907.
Cochise County authorities believe Krentz was killed by an illegal immigrant who then fled to Mexico. Foot tracks were identified and followed approximately 20 miles south to the Mexico border by county, state and federal authorities.
In addition to announcing the reward money Tuesday, Cattle Growers' Association officials say a memorial fund has been set up at Wells Fargo Bank to help Krentz's family.
Reached by phone Tuesday at his family's ranch, Andy Krentz, Krentz's oldest son, said his father was a churchgoing man who routinely went out of his way to help those in need.
"My father was a very good family man," Krentz told FoxNews.com. "He supported his kids, supported his family. He went out of his way to help anybody we could without regarding to who they were. It didn't matter who they were."
Sue Krentz, Krentz's wife, said she was "pretty overwhelmed" by her husband's death, which coincided with her parents' deteriorating health.
"This is icing on the cake," Krentz said.
In 1999, Krentz and his wife told PBS' Religion & Ethics Newsweekly that the Krentz ranch had been broken into and burglarized of $700 worth of items. Despite the crime, Krentz said he helped any illegal immigrant he could.
"And you know, if they come in and ask for water, I'll still give them water," he said. "I -- you know, that's just my nature."
Locally, Krentz was known as a good Samaritan who often helped injured illegal immigrants who tried to cross the desert in an area where summer temperatures often hit 120 degrees.
Krentz radioed his brother Phil between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning that he had encountered an illegal immigrant, and was supposed to meet Phil on the ranch at noon, according to sheriff's deputies. When Krentz didn't show up, the brother called police, and a search team was soon scouring the sprawling desert 15 miles north of the border, near Douglas, Ariz.
At around 11 p.m., a state police helicopter found Krentz slumped over his ATV, the engine and lights still on. Nearby, his dog lay critically wounded, also hit by a bullet. The dog was put down Sunday morning and will be cremated, its ashes spread on the property along with Krentz's.
Tracker dogs have now followed the tracks of the killer back into Mexico, some 15 miles south.
Police have several scenarios of what might have occurred.
One, a drug cartel scout. The Chirachua mountains in southeast Arizona are 11,000 feet tall, rugged and remote. It is a popular drug corridor and the killer may have been clearing the way for a load of drugs moving north when Krentz surprised him.
Two, the suspect belonged to a band of thieves terrorizing the remote ranches spattered around the area — an idea supported by other ranchers.
"Two days earlier a 9mm and a 9mm Glock had been stolen from a home in Portal," said rancher Roger Barnett. "There is no way to know for sure it was the murder weapon. But the bullet the killed Rob and his dog was a 9mm."
Three, retaliation. The day before the killing, Krentz's brother Phil stopped a caravan of illegal immigrants carrying 280 pounds of marijuana. All eight were arrested by the border patrol and the pot was impounded.
The odd part, according to local land owners, is that the killer was apparently alone. Illegal immigrants crossing the border usually hire coyotes to help them pass and travel in groups or 5, 10, 20 or more.
"I think Rob came to help this guy, and the moment he put that telephone to his ear, he was shot," said rancher Richard Humphries, who lives in nearby Elfrida. "It's happened to me. They don't want you to call the border patrol."
Krentz had both a rifle and a revolver, neither of which he used. And both were still with the ATV when his body was found.
Unless the Mexican government finds the killer, Humphrey doubts they'll ever discover the killer's motivation.
The bigger question now looming is how -- if at all -- the rancher's death will affect the immigration debate.
While Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other politicians will call once again for the deployment of the National Guard along the border, few here expect the troops to actually carry guns and provide a deterrent effect.
"What would it show? It would show we're serious about controlling our border, which is not the message this administration wants to send," Humphries lamented.
Advocates of reform will argue the killing is an aberration and that most illegal immigrants come to work, not commit crime.
And while the ranchers here dispute that, as they see illegal immigrants crossing their land everyday, most in Cochise County expect little more than lip service from Washington.
Rancher Roger Barnett was sued for $32 million for pointing his gun at a group of illegal immigrants. He says that immigration advocates in Washington may argue the border is secure, but that Krentz's death puts paid to those claims.
"Obama and [Secretary of Homeland Security Janet] Napolitano are dead wrong about our border being secure," said Barnett.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/31...chers-killing/

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Murder of Arizona rancher puts spotlight back on illegal immigration
By Sean J. Miller - 03/30/10 07:45 PM ET
The recent murder of a longtime rancher has rekindled the debate over illegal immigration in Arizona.

Robert Krentz was found shot to death on his property near Douglas, Ariz., last Saturday. U.S. Border Patrol agents tracked footprints from the crime scene to the nearby Mexican border. Some have speculated that Krentz was killed by an illegal immigrant, but no arrests have yet been made.

Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) used the incident as opportunity to blast Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "Each one of them is culpable in this man's death," Tancredo told FoxNews.com.

McCain reacted forcefully to the news -- reiterating his call for troops to be deployed to the border. "I am asking you and the Administration to immediately reconsider your position and send National Guard troops to our southern border region," he wrote in a letter to Napolitano on Monday.

But the crime -- and the reaction it's sparked -- is a reminder that McCain remains exposed on the controversial issue.
His primary opponent, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, remained critical of the senator.
"One of the reasons [J.D. Hayworth] is challenging John McCain, is because of McCain's past sponsorship of legislation that would grant amnesty to illegal aliens," the former congressman's campaign said in a release expressing condolences to the Krentz family.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...al-immigration

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Border mood changing after murder
By Philip Franchine, Green Valley News
Published: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 8:34 PM MST
Friends, officials and border activists are begging the federal government for definitive action to address border violence after the murder Saturday of a beloved Cochise County rancher.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat from Arizona’s 8th District, late Tuesday joined Gov. Jan Brewer and Sen. John McCain in calling for using the National Guard on the border, citing the difficulty that law enforcement agencies have in covering the vast spaces of Southern Arizona.

Retired rancher Robert Brown, 63, of Green Valley, who knew Robert Krentz and his family before leaving Cochise County in 1982, praised Krentz as a mentor to others and a warm, generous man who reached out to other ranchers, illegal border crossers and anybody who crossed his path.

Krentz, 58, was shot on his ranch Saturday, and officials say the shooter apparently was an illegal immigrant who escaped by walking 20 miles to the Mexican border.

Brown said times have changed drastically since he was a young man and his mother and aunt routinely fed small groups of illegal immigrants who crossed his ranch in hopes of seeking work. Now, paid smugglers herd groups of 30 to 50 across and heavily armed drug traffickers send smugglers across on foot.

Authorities said drug smugglers were arrested on the Krentz ranch Friday, but have not said that Krentz was killed in retaliation.


“I remember as a kid, the illegals came through there and we’d feed and help them just like Rob did,” Brown said. “But this is a different bunch of people — the drug smugglers and the smuggling of human beings.”

“This has changed big time. The U.S. needs to put the military on the border and stop it by any means possible,” Brown said. “The Border Patrol? I imagine they’re doing what they can do, but when you got people running drugs and armed to the hilt? That calls for drastic action as far as I’m concerned.”

Giffords spoke at a Border Patrol intelligence center dedication in Tucson on Tuesday, saying the new center may help in solving the rancher’s death.

She said in her request for National Guard help that law enforcement agencies have not communicated effectively with each other and noted that those crossing the border have become far more dangerous than in the past.

“We know that every time we implement a new border strategy, the smugglers find new ways to circumvent our strategies,” she said.

Giffords said the 262-mile long Tucson Sector is where about half of all drugs and humans are smuggled each year across the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. The Tucson Sector has increased its staffing from 1,100 to 3,200 agents since 1999, U.S. Border Patrol Chief and former Tucson Sector Chief David V. Aguilar said Tuesday.

Giffords has called for comprehensive immigration reform, which would include a temporary guest worker program.

Brown has changed his mind over the years on comprehensive reform and now opposes it, saying, “Mexico has every natural resource known to man. These people shouldn’t have to be coming to this country looking for work. Mexico is so corrupt that poor people don’t have a chance down there.”

Brown and many in Cochise County, including Sheriff Larry Dever, said the lack of protection for ranchers has been a tragedy waiting to happen for years and that federal officials have not acted to help. The Krentz ranch, covers 55 square miles.

Border activists Gary Meinert of Green Valley and the Rev. Randy Mayer of Sahuarita agreed that Krentz’ death was a tragedy and called for different measures to reduce border violence.

Meinert said the Border Patrol needs more resources, and said it has found that 17 to 20 percent of those apprehended in some areas have serious criminal records.

Mayer said adding resources without a guest worker program is not working, as the tripling of agents in the Tucson Sector has been accompanied by higher rates of violence.
http://www.gvnews.com/articles/2010/...krentz0329.txt

[Twoller]

Does anyone have any idea what is going to happen to Krentz's property now that he is gone?

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Originally Posted by Twoller

Does anyone have any idea what is going to happen to Krentz's property now that he is gone?

He has a wife, children and grandchildren.

[Twoller]

Originally Posted by Jeanfromfillmore

He has a wife, children and grandchildren.

So the wife is staying on?

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Originally Posted by Twoller

So the wife is staying on?

Some family members will continue the ranching probably. His sons worked the ranch with him. Some articles have the ranch at 34,000 and 35,000 acres, and some said 38,000. Which ever is right doesn't matter, it's still a big ranch.