Navajo woman’s killer convicted in cast that put focus on plight of missing Indigenous women

PHOENIX — The boyfriend of a Navajo woman whose case became emblematic of an international movement launched to draw attention to an epidemic of missing and slain Indigenous women has been convicted of first-degree murder in her death.

Tre C. James, 31, was convicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix of domestic abuse and in the fatal shooting of Jamie Yazzie. The jury also found James guilty of domestic violence committed against three former intimate and dating partners.

James is scheduled to be sentenced in late January.

Yazzie was 32 and the mother of three sons when she went missing in the summer of 2019 from her community of Pinon on the Navajo Nation. Despite a high-profile search, her remains were not found until November 2021 on the neighboring Hopi reservation in northeastern Arizona.

Many of Yazzie’s family members, including her mother, father, grandmother, and other relatives and friends attended all seven days of the trial, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona said.

“Vindicating the rights of missing and murdered Indigenous persons requires all the energy and compassion we have,” U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino said. “That means not only investigation and prosecution of tough cases but also community engagement, cultural competence, and active listening to next of kin and other family members.”

Yazzie’s case gained attention through the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement that draws attention to violence against Indigenous women and girls in the United States.