Why is Cortez, Colorado so murdery, by episodes?

Cortez sits in the south-west corner of Colorado, near Four Corners, seven hours' drive from Denver and roughly six from Phoenix and Albuquerque. It was built in 1866 to house the men working on the tunnels and ditches that diverted water out of the Dolores River into the Montezuma Valley. The population was given as 8,734 in 2022. In August 1959 a U-2 reconnaissance plane made a forced night landing at the municipal airport after its engine flamed out at 70,000 feet. The pilot had set off from Texas, didn't know the airport was there and was aiming for its lighted runway.

The count comes from a single episode and a single night, which puts Cortez 188th overall and third in Colorado. Episode 348 covers January 11, 1982, when three people were killed. A 36-year-old man lived on a hill outside town in an eight-sided house he had built himself, with his 17-year-old son. That is one case, three victims, and nothing else within 25 miles.