Police Blotter: Arrest made in 2013 murder

GALLUP

Winslow police announced last week that they have arrested a 34-year-old man for the 2013 murder of Tenisha Yolyma.

The body of the 24-year-old Hopi woman was discovered in a shower of a room at the Winslow Inn, the victim of severe trauma.

Police said Timothy Long was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

A detective for the police force, Quentin Hayes, said the department had been looking at Long as a suspect in the case back to when the investigation began in 2013.

From almost the very beginning of the investigation, he said, the department has gathered a lot of evidence implicating a suspect but at the time, the county prosecutor did not think it was enough to file charges.

Since then, that prosecutor has been replaced by another prosecutor who has taken a different stance on the evidence and feels there is enough to file charges.

Two months ago, the investigation became very active with Winslow police beginning a major effort to find witnesses to what occurred at the motel on that night.

“We already have some witnesses but we have been told that there were others there that night,” he said at the time, adding that some people may have been afraid to come forward back in 2013 but now that time has passed, would be willing to come forward an share what they know.

Shiprock man gets nearly 4 years for hit-and-run

ALBUQUERQUE — A Shiprock man convicted of assault was sentenced in federal district court here Tuesday to a 46-month prison term.

Terrell Ray Antonio, 41, was arrested in Hogback, New Mexico, on Jan. 22, 2016 in connection with a hit-and-run that was reported at first to Navajo police.

The victim, who is identified as V.E. in the complaint, told police she was with Antonio in his vehicle. They had stopped alongside the road and were arguing. Eventually, she said, she got out of the vehicle and began walking.

Witnesses told police they saw the woman walking on the shoulder of the road seconds before the vehicle hit her and then continued on its way without stopping.

The two witnesses, who were driving by, said they immediately turned their car around and went to her to give her aid. They told police that the vehicle that hit her was a silver sedan.
Later that evening, police in Shiprock received a phone call from a woman who said her husband, Steven Antonio, and her son, Terrell Antonio, were fighting. Navajo police responded and arrested Terrell Antonio.

When police arrested him, they looked at his vehicle and realized it matched the description of the one that struck VE earlier in the day. Steven Antonio told police that when he and his wife arrived home, they found Terrell Antonio passed out behind the wheel of his car.

They woke him up and began asking him about the damage to the front end of the car and that’s when the argument began. Steven Antonio gave police permission to examine the car, which belonged to him.

While this was going on, police tried unsuccessfully to get Terrell Antonio to take a breathalyzer test. When he didn’t, he was placed in jail.

V.E. later told police that she and Terrell Antonio were coming back from watching a movie in Farmington. She said he began consuming alcoholic beverages before the movie and continued drinking during the movie as well. He became loud and began yelling that the movie was boring so they left before it was over.

She drove them back to Shiprock. When they got to the Hogback store, she said he told her to stop but she refused and continued toward Shiprock.

Two miles from the store, she said Antonio reached over and turned off the vehicle and pulled out the keys. She said that’s when she exited the vehicle and began walking home to Shiprock.

She said she did not realize she had been hit by a car until she regained consciousness and saw people standing over her. She was flown to the San Juan Regional Medical Center where she was treated for a fractured hip, a broken right upper arm and head trauma.

Terrell Antonio was interviewed by Navajo Police and FBI agents later that day. He admitted drinking a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor before and during the movie. After the movie, he said, he consumed a pint of vodka.

He said when V.E. got out of the vehicle, he drove off and met two females whose names he did not remember. He said one of the females drove him around and he remembers at some point they hit a log which damaged his windshield.

After that happened, the told the female who was driving to take him home. He said when they got to his driveway, they got out and he drove into the driveway himself.
He was not able to provide any information about the two women or where they were when they hit the log.

On July 22, 2016, Antonio plead guilty to assault resulting in serious bodily harm. At that time, he admitted hitting V.E. with his car and not stopping.

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