Michael Robert Magirl was one of the most infamous criminals Clovis has
seen.

“I’ll never forget that bastard,” retired Clovis Police Chief Robert
Mondragon said.

It was the summer of 1984, and Magirl had the whole city in eastern New
Mexico in a frenzy.

Magirl was convicted of committing 33 burglaries and raping a female Air
Force captain while her children slept in an adjacent bedroom.

“The guy is a sexual deviant. It’s too bad the system let him go,” Mondragon
said. “I just knew he’d do it again.”

Albuquerque police say Magirl, 51, did try to do it again but failed
Saturday when his victim took Magirl’s gun and blasted two fatal bullets
into his chest.

The woman, identified as being in her early 30s, was alone in her Northeast
Heights home Saturday, asleep when she was awakened about 1:30 a.m.,
Albuquerque Police Capt. Marie Saenz said. The woman told police a man was
straddling her, pointing a gun and flashlight at her face.

The victim, who said she did not know Magirl, wrestled the handgun away from
him and fired it three times, hitting him twice in the upper torso, Saenz
said.

Magirl died at the scene. The woman suffered minor injuries.

Police called the death a justifiable homicide.

“The woman did what was right for her in her circumstance,” Saenz said. “We
all have our own limitations and strengths. If the opportunity presents
itself, you should do what feels like the right thing to do. In some
circumstances, doing nothing saves your life. Other times, you can do what
this victim did.”

News of Magirl’s death reached Clovis on Sunday afternoon, as Mondragon
remembered a “conniving” and “unforgettable” man.

At a glance, Magirl doesn’t necessarily seem like a criminal, said
Mondragon, who retired as police chief last year and now serves as the city
manager in Clovis.

Magirl had a master’s degree and was working as an accountant in Clovis when
a string of residential burglaries hit the area nearly 20 years ago.
Investigators were able to link Magirl to the crimes and the rape of the Air
Force captain by matching his shoes with footprints left at some of the
crime scenes.

Mondragon was a sergeant in the Clovis Police Department when he spotted
Magirl jogging late one evening. He remembers a full moon overhead when he
hopped out of his police car and chased Magirl through one of Clovis’
up-scale neighborhoods.

Mondragon said he fired three times at Magirl but missed but was finally
able to run Magirl down.

When the long list of charges went to state District Court, Magirl
represented himself. He was convicted of the burglaries and the rape.

Prison officials were not immediately available to comment on Magirl’s time
behind bars or when he was released.

“He was a real intelligent guy,” Mondragon said. “But we had so much on
him.”

When Clovis police searched his apartment, they found boxes of stolen loot
hidden in Magirl’s attic, Mondragon said. Some of the goods traced back to
Texas, he said.

Albuquerque police investigators executed a search warrant Saturday evening
and took two laptop computers out of Magirl’s apartment.

Police also retrieved some items from Magirl’s vehicle, which Saenz said was
parked about two blocks from the woman’s home, near Constitution and Eubank
Boulevard Northeast.

Saenz said Magirl had “rapist tools” – a flashlight, gloves, duct tape. In
the car, officers seized a backpack, a pillow case and binoculars.

Police say Magirl appears to have forced his way into the home through a
sliding glass door, where pry marks were found.

Magirl is registered as a convicted sex offender. The state Department of
Public Safety’s Web site listed Magirl as 6 feet, 170 pounds. His employer
is listed as the Barcelona Suites Hotel, but a manager there Sunday said she
did not know Magirl.

Magirl’s history with police stretches back even before his time in Clovis.

According to newspaper records, Magirl also stood trial in 1974 for the
attempted rape of a woman in Las Vegas, N.M. It was not immediately clear
whether he was convicted in that case.

Saenz said even if police know someone in a community has a history of sex
crimes, officers cannot target that person.

“If something happens and it’s in the same neighborhood, there’s the
likelihood we’d look at him,” she said. “But we can’t follow them around and
keep tabs on them. At that point, they’ve served their time.

“But that doesn’t mean they’ve always learned their lesson. A lot of times,
it’s only a matter of time before they do it again.”

Two bullets made sure Magirl won’t do it again.