Socorro UFO Incident — Key Persons Directory

Socorro UFO Incident — Key Persons Directory

Primary Witness

Lonnie Zamora (1933–2009)

Socorro Police Sergeant; primary witness to the April 24, 1964 encounter. Observed the craft, the two figures, the red symbol, and the departure sequence. Confirmed by every investigator who interviewed him as a reliable and credible witness. Never retracted or significantly modified his account. Died 2009 of cardiac arrest.

Corroborating Law Enforcement

Sergeant Sam Chavez, New Mexico State Police

First officer to arrive at the scene following Zamora's radio transmission. Independently confirmed all physical trace evidence in the arroyo within minutes of the craft's departure. Described Zamora as clearly shaken and "not the Lonnie Zamora I know."

Nep Lopez, Socorro Police Dispatcher

Received Zamora's radio call during the incident. Confirmed the clearly distressed and agitated tone of Zamora's transmission — inconsistent with normal professional demeanor and consistent with genuine distress.

Military and Government Investigators

Captain Richard T. Holder, U.S. Army

First military investigator on scene; arrived same evening as incident; conducted first formal interview of Zamora; documented physical evidence; assessed Zamora as fully credible; categorically rejected any suggestion of hoax or fabrication.

Special Agent D. Arthur Byrnes Jr., FBI

FBI special agent who conducted an independent investigation April 25–26, 1964; interviewed Zamora; examined physical site; filed report with FBI headquarters noting Zamora's reliability and the genuineness of the physical evidence.

Major Hector Quintanilla Jr., USAF

Director, Project Blue Book, at the time of the Socorro incident. Led the Air Force investigation. Could not identify a conventional explanation. Wrote in classified CIA publication in 1966 that Socorro was "the best-documented case on record" and that investigators had been "unable to find the vehicle."

Scientific and Research Investigators

Dr. J. Allen Hynek (1910–1986)

Astronomer; Project Blue Book principal scientific consultant; arrived in Socorro approximately four days after the incident; personally examined the site and interviewed Zamora; described Zamora as one of the most credible witnesses he had encountered in seventeen years; classified Socorro as a Close Encounter of the Second Kind; stated "I have interviewed Zamora and I am convinced that he is a serious, reliable witness. This is one case that has never been explained." Later founded the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) and became the leading scientific advocate for serious UFO research.

Ray Stanford

Civilian UFO researcher who arrived in Socorro four days after the incident; conducted the most detailed on-site measurement and documentation of the physical trace evidence; author of Socorro Saucer in a Pentagon Pantry (1976) — the most technically detailed account of the physical evidence.

Skeptical Commentators

Robert Sheaffer

UFO skeptic who proposed that the incident was a hoax perpetrated by New Mexico Tech students. His theory was supported by NM Tech's former president Stirling Colgate but has not been demonstrated by evidence.

Philip J. Klass

Prominent UFO skeptic who visited Socorro several years after the incident and proposed a tourism conspiracy theory — that municipal officials had conspired to create the incident to boost tourism. This theory was rejected by all investigators familiar with the case and the character of those involved.

Steuart Campbell

Proposed the Canopus mirage theory — that Zamora's sighting was an optical mirage of the star Canopus. Rejected by essentially all researchers because mirages do not produce physical trace evidence.

Cultural Contributors

Erika Burleigh

Local artist commissioned in 2012 to paint the Park Street mural commemorating the incident. Her mural serves as the community's primary physical commemoration of the event.