Evergreen Reporter

ALBUQUERQUE – A Little Water man has been charged by criminal complaint following a violent crime spree on the Navajo Nation, which involved a series of shootings and murder.

Dewayne George, 22, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, appeared before a federal judge today and will remain on conditions of release pending trial, which has not been scheduled.

According to the criminal complaint, on April 24, 2024, a family traveling south on U.S. Highway 491 reported to law enforcement that they had been followed, rear-ended, and shot at by someone sitting in the front passenger seat of a white SUV.

Navajo Nation Police Department officers in the area were on the lookout for an SUV matching the description when they observed the vehicle driving southbound on U.S. Highway 491. Officers pursued the vehicle, which attempted to evade them before crashing. The officers took all three individuals in the vehicle into custody: George, Rydell Happy, 30, and Brittania Navaho, 28.

Further investigation revealed that earlier that day George, Happy, and Navaho had been involved in a separate shooting incident in Gallup, New Mexico. Additionally, they were implicated in the murder of an individual identified as John Doe.

Navaho was charged by indictment with straw purchase of the firearm used to murder John Doe and will remain in custody pending trial. If convicted, Navaho faces up to 25 years in prison.

Happy was charged by criminal complaint with second-degree murder and will remain in custody pending trial. If convicted of the current charges, Happy faces life imprisonment.

If convicted of the current charges against him George faces up to 15 years in prison.

The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from Navajo Nation Police Department; Navajo Nation Department of Criminal Investigations; and McKinley County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney R. Eliot Neal is prosecuting the case.

This case is being prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Regional Outreach Program which aims to aid in preventing and responding to missing or murdered Indigenous people through resolving MMIP cases as well as communication coordination collaboration with federal Tribal state local partners. The Department views this work as a priority for its law enforcement components. Through MMIP Regional Outreach Program broad spectrum stakeholders work together identifying MMIP cases issues Tribal communities developing comprehensive solutions addressing them. This prosecution upholds Department’s mission unwavering pursuit justice behalf Indigenous victims their families.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.

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