A month and a half after Rio Arriba County Sheriff Billy Merrifield died from a fatal combination of alcohol and fentanyl, those investigating his death still don't know how he consumed the drug.

An initial batch of reports released by New Mexico State Police this week indicate the agency's investigators have not yet determined how Merrifield ingested the fatal dose of fentanyl that caused his death, along with alcohol, according to toxicology reports.

Following the sheriff's death, investigators collected evidence from the scene, including several cellphones, and interviewed the last people who had seen him alive and some of his close friends, the reports show.

But the reports indicate investigators did not recover any drugs or drug paraphernalia from the scene of the sheriff's death.

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