A Santa Fe County sheriff's deputy wrote in a report that Michael Sutherland "appeared to be homeless" when he was found dead on the ground south of Santa Fe. Sutherland's mother said there was more to her son's story. He was a track and field star in Albuquerque and a graduate of University of New Mexico.
He had "so many friends." He also suffered from schizophrenia that came on after a traumatic brain injury. She believes his death highlights several gaps in mental health treatment in New Mexico.
"I know I'm not the only parent or relative out there who's struggling to manage someone with a mental illness like this," Maria Sutherland said in an interview Wednesday. "It's really tragic." Michael Sutherland, 39, who has a listed address in Albuquerque, was found dead Tuesday morning, two weeks after he had been released from Santa Fe County jail.
Sheriff's deputies wrote in a report he was found unresponsive lying outside a gated Federal Aviation Administration facility off of N.M. 14, across the highway from and a little north of Turquoise Trail Charter School.
The death is not considered "suspicious," a spokesperson for the sheriff's office said Wednesday, but the cause of death had not yet been determined by the state Office of the Medical Investigator. Sutherland grew up in Albuquerque, running track at Eldorado High School and "breaking state records," Maria Sutherland said. He received a full-ride scholarship to UNM — the John Baker Scholarship, named after a local tr.
