On a cold January night in 1984, in the quiet community of Fort Defiance, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, the life of a young mother was violently cut short. Priscilla Lee Yazza, an 18-year-old Native American woman, was at home with her mother, Aliene Lee, and her infant daughter, Samantha. The familiar comfort of an evening spent watching television was shattered when the lights in their home suddenly went out, plunging them into darkness. An armed intruder then confronted the family.
In the ensuing chaos, the assailant shot Priscilla's mother twice in the head. Miraculously, Aliene Lee would survive the brutal attack. The intruder then abducted Priscilla, leaving her 3-month-old daughter unharmed in the home. The following morning, a grim discovery was made in a gully not far from her home. Priscilla's naked body was found; she had been sexually assaulted multiple times and then shot in the back of the head. Investigators found evidence suggesting that she had fought for her life, attempting to escape her attacker at least three times before she was killed.
The investigation into Priscilla's murder was fraught with complications from the start. A lack of coordination and jurisdictional confusion among the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Navajo Tribal Police reportedly hampered the case. Priscilla's mother, Aliene, later voiced her belief that crucial evidence was destroyed and that investigators failed to pursue important leads. She held the conviction that the person who took her daughter's life was not of Native American descent.
Despite the horrific nature of the crime and the presence of a surviving witness, no arrests have ever been made in connection with the abduction and murder of Priscilla Lee Yazza. The identity of the armed intruder who shattered a family and ended a young life remains unknown. Decades later, her case stands as a painful and unresolved chapter in the ongoing crisis of violence against Indigenous women, her killer never having been brought to justice.
