Several cases over the course of 2015 kept the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department quite busy.

First on the list was the murder in May of 64-year old Carol Hullinger of Caliente. In August, 47-year old Jerry Elbert Hudson was arrested and charged with home invasion, sexual assault and murder in the case.

Sheriff Kerry Lee said Hudson is still at the detention center in Pioche and District Attorney Daniel Hooge said a preliminary hearing is scheduled for some time in January. Lee said most of the evidence has been obtained and processed, but no motive has yet been established, although Lee believes the two did know each other.

Also in August, a stabbing of the bartender at the Hide Away Club in Caliente was reported. Robbie Brown, age 32, and Kyle Hannig, 29, were arrested in connection with the incident. After the investigation, charges were reduced to a misdemeanor assault. The case was later dismissed in justice court because of some issues involving the witnesses.

Sheriff’s deputies raided and destroyed another mountain marijuana grow in the county in late August. Lee said it was a joint effort involving his office, the Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Department of Public Safety Investigation Division and the National Guard. Approximately 5,676 plants with an estimated street value of $17 million, plus several thousand feet of black plastic irrigation pipe, chemicals and other supplies, were found at the grow site that appeared to have been occupied by two or three people, but they were not apprehended.

There is no new information on the investigation at the Meadow Valley Pharmacy. Lee said it is being handled by the state attorney general’s office and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s department is not involved. Visits have been made by investigators several times since the summer doing follow-up interviews, but no comment is being given as it is an ongoing investigation.

The same comment is made about the investigation at C.O. Bastian School. School District superintendent Steve Hansen said the investigation is still too preliminary and declined to comment.

The robberies at Ash Springs Shell and Caliente Sinclair stations Nov. 29 have not been solved as yet. Lee noted, “We have not been able to identify the person shown on the surveillance videos from those stores, even with tips we received from the public. We don’t know if it was a local or just someone passing through the area. No cash was taken, only product, drinks and food, from the storerooms. At the Sinclair station, the robber did open the cash register, but the money was already stored safely somewhere else. They really didn’t get much.”

And Lee said the plans to remodel an existing storage room at the detention center to be extra housing for female inmates has been put on hold, “waiting to see what happens after the first of the year.”