Jake Eleno Arredondo, a 26-year-old Hispanic / Latino male from Bullhead City, Arizona, died in the early morning hours of November 5, 2022, after a violent incident inside the home he shared with his mother and stepfather in the 1700 block of Cyprus Lane. Police were called shortly before 1 a.m. to the residence, where officers found him unresponsive with severe injuries, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. According to information later compiled in public case summaries and local reporting, neighbors said that his stepfather, Kenneth Lee Petrone, had been visiting with them that night, and the quiet was broken when Petrone’s wife, Joedie, arrived home and began shouting that her husband had harmed her son. A neighbor who ran to the house reported finding Arredondo badly injured and unresponsive before emergency services arrived, confirming the incident as a homicide.
Investigators quickly identified Petrone, then 27, as the primary suspect. Witnesses told police that Petrone and his wife had left the scene before officers arrived, prompting an urgent bulletin for the couple and for the gray Dodge Journey they were believed to be driving. Authorities described Petrone and warned the public not to approach him, treating Joedie as missing and endangered while emphasizing that he was wanted on a temporary felony warrant for first-degree murder. Later that same day, at about 7 p.m., the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on the suspect vehicle, took Petrone into custody on the Bullhead City warrant, and arranged for his return to Mohave County. Subsequent records of the case and national incident databases list Petrone as the family member suspect, arrested and unharmed, while noting that Joedie was located safely and did not face charges in connection with the killing.
The case moved forward as a homicide prosecution in Mohave County Superior Court. At a sentencing hearing held on November 2, a jury’s earlier verdict was placed on the record: Petrone, by then 28, had been found guilty of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of his stepson. Court reporting states that Arredondo suffered dozens of stab wounds inflicted with a long, homemade spear to which a 13-inch blade was attached, and other coverage described the weapon as roughly six feet in length, underscoring the brutality of the attack. The presiding judge, Billy Sipe, imposed a sentence of natural life in the Arizona Department of Corrections, specifying that Petrone would not be eligible for release on any basis, while defense counsel indicated an appeal would be filed. At the hearing, Arredondo’s father spoke of his son as a good person whose death left a painful void in their family, echoing a family fundraiser that described him as a kind and loving person who had touched many lives; the case is now recorded in public archives as a completed homicide with the suspect convicted and serving a life sentence.
