Gilbert John, Jr., Second Degree Murder, New Mexico 2019

A 35-year-old man from Brimhall, New Mexico has pleaded guilty to second degree murder in federal court, according to prosecutors.

Gilbert John, Jr., an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, is facing 17-21 years in prison for his role in the brutal killing of an unnamed individual in 2019.

According to court records, John got into a car at his apartment in the Sunset Hills complex in Gallup, New Mexico, to test drive it. However, he heard the victim cry out for help from the trunk and understood his acquaintance to mean that he should kill the victim.

John and his accomplice drove around the area, smoking methamphetamines, and eventually stopped on the back roads to Bass Lake. John walked away from the car, at which point the victim attempted to escape. John slammed the trunk back down on him, sat on the top of the trunk door and asked for a machete. He then opened the trunk and stabbed the victim repeatedly with the machete.

Afterward, John drove the car with the victim’s body inside of it to a relative’s house in Standing Rock, New Mexico. Before leaving the car there, John attempted to remove a tracking device, but ended up disabling the car instead.

About ten days later, John asked a friend to tow the car to a remote location north of Church Rock, New Mexico. Once the car had been towed to the location, John released the car and let it roll down a hill out of view of the road. He then borrowed a gas can and poured gasoline onto the car, lit it on fire, and left it burning with the victim’s body inside.

The charred remnants of the victim’s body were found in the trunk of the car by the McKinley County Fire Department on July 16, 2019. The victim was identified only because investigators were able to match serial numbers from the victim’s medical records to metal hip replacement devices found in the burned-out trunk of the car.

In his plea agreement, John expressed remorse for killing the victim and burning their body.

The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Police Department and the McKinley County Fire Department.

Related Federal Cases