Aneth man sentenced to life in prison for murder of Diné woman

By Marshall Baker
Navajo Times

PHOENIX – In a case of justice for violence against Indigenous women, Randy Lansing of Aneth, Utah, was sentenced to a term of life in prison for the murder of Tammy Clark. Lansing, 41, was dating Clark at the time of the murder and committed the act in front of her two young daughters.

This sentence was imposed by Senior U.S. District Court Judge David Nuffer after a federal jury in Utah convicted Lansing of murder in the second degree while within Indian County.

Clark was a 30-year-old Diné mother of three when on April 23, 2022, Lansing severely beat and drowned her in front of two of her daughters. According to evidence and statements made at the trial, on the day of the murder, Lansing drove Clark, her two daughters, and another woman to McElmo Creek, 15 minutes away from the town of Aneth. It was there where he forcibly beat and drowned Clark, causing a list of terrible injuries. The grim injuries included a broken nose, extensive facial swelling, many brain hemorrhages, lacerations to her right cheek, left ear, and inside her mouth, a fractured hyoid (neck) bone, four broken ribs, and extensive blunt force trauma to her torso and extremities.

According to statements and evidence presented at the trial, Lansing also made threats to Clark’s daughter. After the severe beating and drowning, he then drove Clark back to Aneth in the back of his

SUV. After leaving the vehicle, Lansing’s mother contacted neighbors for help to potentially save Clark. The neighbors made several attempts to save her life before ambulances arrived, but after she was transported to the hospital, she was pronounced dead.

The case was a joint investigation conducted by the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office’s Monticello Resident Agency and Navajo Nation Police Department Criminal Investigators. U.S. Attorney Trina A. Higgins of the District of Utah and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tad May and Tanner Zumwalt were the prosecutors in this case.

“Mr. Lansing subjected Ms. Clark to an unthinkable level of brutality before her death, all witnessed by her young daughters,” Higgins stated in a news release by the district attorney’s office. “He has a history of violence against women, which escalated to the heinous murder of this young mother.

“While no prison sentence can ever make up for the life stolen from Ms. Clark’s family, it is our hope her children can continue to heal and move forward after being profoundly impacted by the gravity of Lansing’s crime.”

Violence against Indigenous women is something that continues to plague tribal communities. According to the National Congress of American Indians, more than four in five Native American or Alaskan Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime, and more than half of them have experienced physical violence by intimate partners. The Navajo Nation has taken measures to try and help solve this issue through initiatives such as the Missing and Murder Diné Relatives Task Force.