ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- For more than a year, speculation, rumors and mystery have surrounded the former leader of the Gallup Catholic Diocese, in Albuquerque, N.M.
Last July, Bishop Donald Pelotte sustained multiple injuries in his home. He said he fell down a flight of stairs, but a mysterious 911 call from Pelotte is casting doubt on his claim -- so are his injuries.
A Gallup police officer called to the hospital took pictures of the battered and bruised bishop. The pictures have recently been publicly released, reported TV station KOAT.
Reporters with the station asked Dr. Thomas Bennett, an associate state medical examiner and forensic pathologist from Montana, if the bishop's injuries could have been caused by a fall down the stairs.
"Sure they are, in that he's got impact on the checks, on the bridge of his nose, over his shoulder, over the backs of his hands and knuckles, and even down around his knees and his chins," said Bennett.
He said the injuries are more consistent with someone who stumbled and fell several times, but said he cannot rule out the bishop being beaten by someone else.
His questions come from the bruises on the bishop's knuckles on both hands. Bennett said the bishop may have been using his hands to defend himself.
And adding more mystery to his injuries was a bizarre call to 911.
A dispatch log from September details Gallup police were called to the bishop's home after he told operators "gentle little people about 3 to 4 feet tall wearing Halloween masks" were in his home.
"Can you tell me what happened?" the dispatcher asked.
"They're just moving. They've been quiet. They've been going upstairs in the bedrooms and hiding behind the artifacts. But they don't talk," said Pelotte, adding that they were wearing masks.
"What kind of masks do they have?" asked the dispatcher.
"Ma'am, I don't have the time to tell you. You'll see it for yourself. Please send somebody over here," said Pelotte.
He then told the dispatcher that the little people were gentle, but that he was going to hide in his bedroom.
In April, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the bishop's resignation. The bishop has been living in Florida.