Contributed Photo/Courtesy Joyce Benvenuto: Duncan Evans Walker, 21, shown here saying goodbye to his grandmother, Joyce Benvenuto, in February in Santa Fe New Mexico, died in a single-vehicle rollover on Thursday.
Staff Reports
NEW MEXICO – Safford High School graduate Duncan Evans Walker, 21, died in a single-vehicle rollover in New Mexico on Thursday.
Walker grew up in Safford and excelled in orchestra and marching band as well as track and cross country at Safford High School before graduating with honors. He then attended Northern Arizona University and was working in Santa Fe at the time of the crash.
According to Walker’s grandmother, Joyce Benvenuto, he was driving southbound on Highway 180 by himself from Santa Fe to Safford to visit friends when his Nissan pickup truck rolled off the mountain road.
The crash happened near Glenwood, New Mexico, roughly 20 miles north of the intersection with Highway 78, which one takes to go through Mule Creek to Three Way. According to the Catron County Sheriff’s Office, Walker was ejected from the truck and was deceased at the scene. While the cause of the crash is still under investigation, driver fatigue may have been a factor. The Sheriff’s Office wasn’t initially dispatched to the crash until about 3:30 a.m.
Walker’s parents, Jon Walker and Juliet Benvenuto, reside in Safford with their daughter, Jordan. A memorial service for Walker is planned in the coming weeks.
