Nageezi man sentenced to more than 17 years for second-degree murder of girlfriend
A Nageezi man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in federal court in connection with a 2022 incident has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison.
Evan Haceesa, 29, a member of the Navajo Nation, pleaded guilty on March 22 to the killing of his longtime girlfriend, who also was the mother of his two children. The incident took place on Aug. 28, 2022, at the woman’s father’s residence in Nageezi on the Navajo Nation, according to court documents and a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico.
The documents state that Haceesa punched the victim in the face until she lost consciousness, then kicked her several times in an attack that was estimated to have lasted 10 to 15 minutes. Haceesa then placed her body in a wheelbarrow and went inside the house to sleep.
A Navajo Police Department officer who was responding to a report of domestic violence arrived at the scene later that night and found the victim in the wheelbarrow, unclothed and unresponsive, according to the release.
The woman was airlifted to the San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, where she underwent surgery and was placed on a ventilator. Her injuries included a significant amount of 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. Her condition worsened over the course of a week, and she died on Sept. 8, 2022, the release states.
Haceesa was sentenced Aug. 22 to 17 years and six months in prison. He will be subject to five years of supervised release after severing his sentence.
The case was investigated by the Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI and the Navajo Police Department.
Haceesa had been arrested several times over the past eight years. He faced a charge of battery of a household member and resisting an officer in 2015 in Aztec Magistrate Court, but the charges were dismissed. In June 2018, he was charged with battery of a household member in Albuquerque, a charge that also was dismissed. Later that year, he was charged again with battery of a household member, as well as disorderly conduct, resisting an officer and concealing his identity. All the charges were dismissed.
In August 2019, Haceesa was charged with battery of a household member, criminal damage to property and resisting an officer. He pleaded guilty to the criminal damage charge, while the other two charges were dismissed. He was fined and sentenced to probation for the criminal damage charge.
Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e.
This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Nageezi's Evan Haceesa pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March
