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Press Release

MAN FROM ARIZONA SENTENDED TO 20 YEARS IN PRISON FOR MURDERING TWO PEOPLE IN INDIAN COUNTRY

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – Michael Yonnie, 28, of Winslow, Ariz., was sentenced in federal court on Monday to 20 years in prison on two counts of second-degree murder in Indian Country.

            Yonnie previously pleaded guilty to this offense on March 20, 2019.   According to his plea agreement, he committed the murders on July 18, 2014.  Yonnie became upset when he saw the first victim with his mother.  Yonnie confronted the first victim with a knife and stabbed the first victim to death.   Yonnie then went to the second victim’s home, where he pulled a knife and stabbed the second victim fatally.   Law enforcement officers arrested Yonnie when he returned home a short time later.  

            The Albuquerque office of the FBI investigated this case with the Navajo Nation Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Marshall prosecuted the case.

Updated July 11, 2019

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Press Release Number: 19-99