On August 23, 2017, the body of a young Native American woman, 20-year-old Sukakee Floydina Bullethead Yhides of Fort Duchesne, Utah, was discovered on a road northwest of Whiterocks, situated within the Uintah-Ouray Reservation. The circumstances of her death were immediately deemed suspicious, prompting a homicide investigation by the Duchesne County Sheriff's Office, the FBI, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The investigation quickly centered on two individuals.
Zhondee Spring Nephi, a 30-year-old woman from Whiterocks and an enrolled member of the Ute Indian Tribe, was arrested on August 26, 2017, and placed in tribal custody. Another person of interest, 33-year-old Drew Black, also known as Drew Cuch, was apprehended in Salt Lake County on August 30, 2017. However, no charges were ultimately filed against him in connection with Yhides's death.
In early February 2018, a federal grand jury indicted Zhondee Spring Nephi on charges of second-degree murder and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. The indictment alleged that the murder occurred within Indian country. While incarcerated, Nephi faced additional unrelated state charges in November 2017, stemming from an incident in the Duchesne County Jail where she allegedly directed another inmate to perform strip searches and assaulted an inmate.
Ultimately, Zhondee Spring Nephi was convicted for the murder of Sukakee Yhides. Although specific details of a trial or plea agreement are not readily available in public reports, court records indicate she was sentenced. In June 2024, a motion for a sentence reduction filed by Nephi was denied by a federal judge, confirming her conviction and ongoing incarceration for the crime. The potential sentence for the murder charge was life in prison, with a mandatory minimum of ten years for the firearm offense.
