Johnny Volpato Trials: 1981 & 1986

On this night Volpato had received such an emergency call at home around 11 o'clock. Elaine allegedly decided to accompany him since she needed a few things from the drug store. Soon after the two walked inside, someone knocked on the front door. Volpato answered. An Hispanic man came inside and, as he asked for his prescription, pulled out a gun.

At this moment, Elaine came from the back of the drugstore, saw the gun, screamed, then ran down a back hallway toward the back door. The gunman shot her. The 43-year-old Volpato ran to the phone and as he dialed 911, the gunman also fired at him. A second man entered, and he and the gunman filled a box with drugs and fled. As Volpato crawled toward the front door he collapsed. He was wounded in his hand and shoulder.

Emergency personnel rushed the pharmacist to Dallas for emergency surgery; Elaine died. Autopsy reports concluded she was shot four times, twice in her chest and twice in the back.

At first, the folks of Carlsbad rallied around the injured and grieving Volpato. No one seemed to doubt his story that robbers had killed his wife and left him for dead. After all, in the years since he had graduated from the University of New Mexico's pharmacy school in 1961, the father of two had become a social and political pillar in the small desert town. The meticulously dressed, well-spoken Volpato served on the city council, participated in community affairs, and even dispensed free medicine to those in need. The Corner Drugstore became the gathering spot for Carlsbad's movers and shakers.