In February 2002, the life of Mark Mathes, a 40-year-old white man, came to a brutal and tragic end in Phoenix, Arizona. The horrifying chain of events was set in motion when Jessica Nelson, who was living in the same home as Mathes, suspected him of stealing money from her room. Seeking retribution, Nelson contacted Sean Gaines, and a plan was hatched to confront Mathes.
Gaines, along with Patrick Bearup and Jeremy Johnson, armed themselves and headed to the residence where Mathes was located.
Upon their arrival, the three men, all armed, confronted Mathes on the back patio of the home. What began as a confrontation quickly escalated into a vicious assault. Mathes was severely beaten with a baseball bat and the butt of a shotgun, sustaining numerous injuries. Following the brutal attack, his assailants stuffed his battered body into the trunk of a car. There was conflicting testimony on whether Mathes was still alive at this point, with one of the perpetrators claiming he was still conscious and groaning.
The four then drove to a remote, isolated area near Crown King, a place known as Swastika Mine. There, Mathes was pulled from the trunk and stripped of his clothing. In a particularly cruel act, as Nelson struggled to remove a ring from his finger, Bearup used a pair of wire clippers to sever the finger. Mathes was then thrown over a guardrail into a ravine. To ensure his death, Gaines shot him twice with a shotgun. For a significant time, it was as if Mark Mathes had simply vanished, with his disappearance going unreported to the police. It wasn’t until hunters discovered his spine and jawbone that an investigation into his fate began.
The investigation eventually led to the arrests of Jessica Nelson, Patrick Bearup, Sean Gaines, and Jeremy Johnson, who were identified as members of a skinhead group. The grim details of the murder were largely corroborated by Jeremy Johnson during a police interrogation after his arrest. In exchange for his testimony against the others, Johnson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping. Jessica Nelson also accepted a plea deal for the same charges. Patrick Bearup was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping and was subsequently sentenced to death for his role in the heinous crime.
