In the winter of 1987, the sense of security for the Navajo Nation was shattered by the brutal killing of two of its own police officers. Among them was Roy Lee Stanley, a 27-year-old male officer with the Navajo Division of Public Safety. He, along with his colleague, Officer Andy Begay, met a violent end while investigating an alcohol-related party near the Utah-Arizona border on the vast expanse of the Navajo Indian Reservation.
The last communication from the two officers indicated
they had stopped a truck. What transpired next was a horrific sequence of events that culminated in their deaths. The officers were shot, and their bodies were then placed inside one of their patrol vehicles. The vehicle was driven to a remote area known as Copper Canyon, a desolate location near Lake Powell in Utah, where it was set on fire. On the morning of December 5, 1987, passersby discovered the two smoldering police vans at the bottom of the canyon. Inside one, they found the burned remains of the two officers, initially unrecognizable.
The discovery launched a multi-agency investigation involving the Navajo tribal police, the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the San Juan County Sheriff's Office. The investigation led to the indictment of four Navajo men: Thomas Cly, Vinton Bedonie, Ben Atene, Jr., and Marques Atene. They were charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Witnesses from a bonfire party that took place on the night of the murders provided crucial testimony. One key witness saw the defendants overpower the officers, transport them to Copper Canyon, and set their vehicle ablaze. Following a trial, a jury found Thomas Cly and Vinton Bedonie guilty on all counts, and they were subsequently sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the deaths of Officer Roy Lee Stanley and Officer Andy Begay.
