On January 31, 2018, the quiet of the Fort McDermitt Shoshone Paiute Tribe Reservation along the Nevada-Oregon border was shattered by a grim discovery. Amy Hinkey, a 40-year-old woman, was found deceased in a home. Her brother made the heartbreaking discovery, finding her on the couch, clutching a blanket, with a gunshot wound to her head. Lying motionless on the floor was her 31-year-old cousin, Adeline “Gug” Sam, who had also been shot and killed.
Hinkey had been visiting her cousin for the night.
The investigation into the double homicide led authorities to Stoney Prior, a 43-year-old fellow member of the tribe. Court records revealed that Prior's motive for the killings stemmed from the women allegedly calling him a "molester." It was reported that Adeline Sam had offered Prior a place to stay as he was not getting along with his family.
In August 2020, a federal jury convicted Stoney Prior on two counts of second-degree murder for the slayings of Amy Hinkey and Adeline Sam. Following his conviction, Prior boasted to multiple witnesses about the murders, stating he had “blown their heads off” and at one point referred to himself as a “natural born killer.” In January 2022, a U.S. District Judge sentenced Prior to two consecutive life sentences in prison. An autopsy revealed that Hinkey had been shot once in the head, once in the stomach, and twice in the arm at close range. Sam sustained shotgun wounds to the neck and head.
