A United States District Court judge sentenced a man to life in prison for the murder of a missing Navajo woman, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona announced.
31-year-old Tre C. James was sentenced for murdering his girlfriend, 32-year-old Jamie Yazzie, in summer 2019. Yazzie was the mother of three sons when James shot and killed her on the Navajo Nation and later hid her body on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona.
Despite multiple agencies investigating the woman’s disappearance her remains wouldn’t be discovered until November 2021.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office point to specific challenges that hindered investigations, such as, the COVID-19 pandemic, Yazzie not being reported missing for days and James cleaning the crime scene.
James was convicted of first degree murder by a federal grand jury in 2023.
The jury also found him guilty of of several acts of domestic violence toward three other Navajo women.
Along with the life sentence, United States District Judge Douglas L. Rayes added 10 years in prison to run concurrently and fiver years of supervised release for each of his assault charges.
