On the evening of May 29, 1998, Pernell Tewangonitewa, a 21-year-old Native American man, vanished from Farmington, New Mexico. He was a cosmetology student of Navajo and Hopi descent who lived with his sister in the nearby community of Bloomfield. Pernell had spent his final known hours at Gators Bar and Grill in Farmington, where he was seen with his sister and friends. He was last observed leaving the parking lot alone at approximately 1:30 a.m., driving his sister's silver Subaru hatchback.
He was expected to follow his sister home, but he never arrived.
For weeks, there was no sign of Pernell or the vehicle he was driving. The family's initial attempts to report him missing were met with resistance from the Farmington Police Department, who reportedly stereotyped him as a "drunk or wandering Indian." This delayed the official investigation into his disappearance. The first significant break in the case came on June 18, 1998, when Pernell's Subaru was discovered completely burned in the remote Choke Cherry Canyon, about five miles northwest of Farmington. The fire was later determined to be an act of arson. Despite this discovery, Pernell Tewangonitewa was nowhere to be found. His case, while officially classified as a missing person, is being treated as a homicide by law enforcement.
In the years following Pernell's disappearance, his case has grown cold, and no arrests have ever been made. The investigation did explore a possible connection to Robert "Bobby" Fry, who was suspected of being a serial killer active in the area. However, it does not appear that any definitive link was ever established or that Fry was ever charged in connection with Pernell's case. The family's frustration with the handling of the investigation has been a recurring theme, with the initial dismissal of their concerns and the subsequent lack of progress leaving them without answers. The car, a crucial piece of evidence, was reportedly sent to a salvage yard without being fully processed for forensic evidence, further compounding the family's distress. Pernell Tewangonitewa's disappearance remains an unsolved presumed homicide, a painful mystery for his family and community.
