Killing Pat Garrett, The Wild West’s Most Famous Lawman – Murder or Self-Defense? (Mesilla Valley History Series)

On February 29, 1908, Pat Garrett — the legendary sheriff who killed Billy the Kid — was shot to death on a lonely New Mexico road.

More than a century later, one question still divides historians:

Was Pat Garrett murdered — or did he die in self-defense?

Countless books have examined Garrett's life, yet none has been able to answer that question with evidence that would withstand careful scrutiny. Instead, historians have relied on speculation, conflicting recollections, and incomplete records.

This book takes a different approach.

Drawing upon previously undiscovered documents, long-forgotten official records, private family correspondence, contemporary newspapers, and other primary sources, it reconstructs Garrett's final years, his fatal shooting, the investigation that followed, and the trial of the man accused of killing him. The result is the most comprehensive examination ever published of one of the American West's greatest unsolved mysteries.

Among the discoveries presented here are:

• The long-lost coroner's jury report on Garrett's death, missing for more than a century.
• More than eighty personal letters Garrett wrote to his wife, revealing his private life in unprecedented detail.
• Never-before-seen pictures of his children.
• The forgotten locations of his two ranches.
• The sworn testimony of the only eyewitness to the shooting.
• Newly uncovered evidence concerning "Deacon Jim" Miller, the notorious professional assassin who was in Las Cruces the day Garrett died.
• The exact location on the abandoned wagon road where Garrett was killed.
• The decisive evidence presented during the murder trial.
• Garrett's original burial place.
• The years-long legal fight by Garrett's widow to recover the colt pistol that killed Billy the Kid.
• New information about his financial struggles and the man placed on trial for his death.

Beyond the mystery of Garrett's killing, this book offers a revealing portrait of the man himself. It follows Garrett from the triumph that made him internationally famous after killing Billy the Kid to the personal and financial hardships that marked his final years. Readers will discover the private side of Garrett's life — his family, friendships, tragedies, business failures, and determination to endure public setbacks with quiet dignity.

Garrett's remarkable career brought him into contact with Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, whom he met on five occasions, including three visits to the White House. He became one of the most celebrated lawmen in American history, yet his final years were overshadowed by financial ruin, political disappointment, and relentless personal adversity.

Illustrated with 102 photographs and historical images, including six never before published photographs of Garrett and his family — the first newly discovered Garrett photographs to appear in more than fifty years — this book presents groundbreaking research that challenges long-held assumptions and sheds new light on the life and death of the Wild West's most famous lawman.

For readers interested in Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid, the Lincoln County War, frontier justice, and the true history of the American West, this is the most thoroughly documented investigation ever published into the question that has lingered since 1908:

Was Pat Garrett murdered — or was the shooting justified as self-defense?

Co-founder of the Pat Garrett Western Heritage Festival. Co-founder Friends of Pat Garrett. Filmmaker, producer, actor, screenwriter, author, historian, travel writer. Winner 2015 Pasajero Del Camino Real Award for Vols. 1 and 2 of the Mesilla Valley History Series "in which the life and times of La Posta and Giovanni Maria de Agostini emerge in rich detail." Winner 2017 Pasajero Del Camino Real Award for Screen With A Voice, "A significant, comprehensive account bringing 110 years of theater to life."