Blackwater Draw: A Guess Dresses Up as a Grave

By Jeremiah W. Slatten

Author Note:

Steve Sederwall called me a “keyboard warrior,” claiming my only training comes from watching TV. Well, I did use a keyboard to write this, so maybe he’s right—this time.

But here are the facts. I’m a native New Mexican, born and raised in the foothills of Billy the Kid country. I spent six years in the United States Marine Corps, serving abroad and training foreign military and police in investigative tactics and modern policing techniques. My training came directly from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

I’m not a transplant from Missouri, Los Angeles, or wherever he claims to be from. Billy the Kid country is my home. And for me, it’s deeply personal.

Now let’s talk history.

At The Coalition, we try to avoid name-calling, even when we strongly disagree. But some claims are so bold and so misleading that ignoring them would do more harm than good. We all enjoy a tall tale, and a campfire story has its place. The claim put forward by the Cold West “Detective Agency”—an outfit that, as far as we can tell, doesn’t list any sworn police officers or licensed detectives on staff—crosses a line. The dead deserve better, and history does too. If you want to write fiction, write a novel. Just don’t dress it up as fact and expect it to slip by unchecked.

Steve Sederwall says a certain spot at Blackwater Draw is the grave of Morton, Baker and McCluskey (see the photo). That sounds dramatic. It also doesn’t match the best-publicized work done on the event.

According to David Turk’s published account, a team from Texas A&M ran ground-penetrating radar (GPR) over the area. The result? No signs of bones. No confirmed burial. No “X marks the spot.” As far as the records show, Sederwall wasn’t there for that survey, and he hasn’t presented data that overturns it. So right now, this feels less like history and more like a campfire story with a confident narrator.

According to Turk, “…search was conducted around the stones. The scientists crossed on each side of the rocks for fifty feet and then in a straight line around the formation. The results yielded no bones, just calcium carbonate. Old texts reveal the bodies may have been moved.”

No, GPR isn’t magic. A negative scan doesn’t prove nothing is there. Soil can be tricky. Depth matters. Instruments have limits. But if you want to declare a grave, you need more than a hunch and a headline. You need multiple lines of evidence that agree with each other.

What would count as real support?

- Clear survey data: raw GPR files, settings used, and maps of the grid.

- Physical evidence: documented finds, with photos, logs, and chain-of-custody.

- Context: stratigraphy, coordinates, dates, and methods other researchers can check.

- Independent review: other experts looking at the same data and reaching the same conclusion.

Sederwall provides none of the above. I think it time he shows the proof. But I know he cant.

Right now, Sederwall’s claim doesn’t offer proof. It leans hard on uncertainty and light on proof, and it clashes with the GPR results. That’s not how good history works, and it’s not how you confirm a grave.

If there are bodies there, show the evidence. Until then, the most honest answer is simple: we don’t know where Morton, Baker or McCluskey are buried. Calling a guess a discovery doesn’t make it one.

If you want a better, more factual account, read David Turk’s book, Blackwater Draw: Three Lives, Billy the Kid and the Murders That Started the Lincoln County War. As of now, it’s the most honest, well-documented account of what happened there that’s been published to date. 

Remember that phrasing: published to date.

Turk, David S.. Blackwater Draw: Three Lives, Billy the Kid and the Murders That Started the Lincoln County War (p. 128).