Nageezi Man Sentenced to 17 and a Half Years in Prison for Second-Degree Murder

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, announced that Evan Haceesa was sentenced to 17 years six months in prison. Haceesa, 29, of Nageezi, New Mexico, and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, pled guilty to second-degree murder on March 22, 2023.

According to court documents, on Aug. 28, 2022, following a familial argument, Haceesa attacked a defenseless Jane Doe, who was his girlfriend of ten years and the mother of his two children. Haceesa attacked her at his father’s residence in Nageezi on the Navajo Nation. Haceesa continuously punched Jane Doe in the face until she lost consciousness and then kicked her lifeless body several times. After the initial attack, which lasted approximately 10-15 minutes, Haceesa retrieved a wheel barrel and placed Jane Doe’s body in it before he went inside to sleep. An officer from the Navajo Police Department responding to a report of domestic violence arrived on scene later that night and found Jane Doe unclothed and unresponsive, still in the wheel barrel.

Jane Doe was airlifted to the San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, New Mexico, where she immediately underwent surgery and had to be connected to a ventilator to assist breathing.  Jane Doe’s injuries included, among other things, significant blood and air in her abdomen, a perforated small intestine, bleeding in and around the small intestine, a bilateral nose fracture, and partially collapsed lungs.  Though it initially appeared that Jane Doe might eventually recover, her condition worsened over the course of a week, and after two additional surgeries she succumbed to her injuries on Sept. 8, 2022.

Upon his release from prison, Haceesa will be subject to 5 years of supervised release.

The Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew J. McGinley is prosecuting the case.

# # #

23-197