Boyfriend who murdered missing Navajo woman Jamie Yazzie sentenced

PHOENIX (AZFamily/AP) — The boyfriend of a missing Navajo woman whose name sparked international attention to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women learned his punishment on Monday.

Tre C. James was sentenced to life in prison for the domestic abuse and killing of Jamie Yazzie.

A jury convicted the 31-year-old nearly a year ago of first-degree murder and several acts of domestic violence against three former intimate and dating partners.

United States District Judge Douglas L. Rayes sentenced James to an additional 10 years in prison for those crimes and five years of supervised release for each of those attacks.

“We got justice for Jamie. We did it,” Yazzie’s relatives and friends ones chanted outside the federal courthouse in Phoenix after the sentence was handed down.

“Securing justice for missing victims of violence necessitates courage, discipline, and collaboration,” United States Attorney Gary Restaino said in a written statement. “It also requires all of us to demonstrate our commitment with alacrity: for communities to report their missing loved ones as soon as possible; for victim advocates to engage early and often with next of kin; and for agents and prosecutors to charge cases as soon as they are ready to be charged.”

Yazzie was a mother of three sons and 32 years old 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.

Investigators said they faced “significant challenges” in the case, such as Yazzie not being reported missing for several days, James having a clean record and Yazzie being murdered when she and James were home alone together.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which hit the Navajo Nation particularly hard, also slowed the investigation process, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Eventually, James was arrested for first-degree murder and other charges in the summer of 2022.

Yazzie’s three sons, now ages 18, 14, 10, and other relatives attended Monday’s sentencing, along with several dozen supporters. Another dozen or so supporters stayed outside to demonstrate on the sidewalk, chanting and beating drums.

“There is no sentence you can impose that will balance the scale,” Yazzie’s mother, Ethelene Denny, told the judge before the announcement.

Denny detailed the pain the family has suffered from the moment Yazzie disappeared, through a desperate 2 1/2-year search and the ultimate shock and heartbreak when her remains were found.

She told the judge she researched the right words to use, as English is her second language.

“Looking through dictionaries, I wanted to have that powerful wording and everything to say my statement,” Denny said.

Her family felt her case was largely ignored, and it was thanks to attorney and advocate Darlene Gomez that attention launched this case into the national spotlight.

“You have to put constant pressure on law enforcement. You have to put constant pressure on your leaders. And without that constant pressure we wouldn’t be here today,” Gomez said.

Federal prosecutors also played an earlier recorded video statement from Yazzie’s father, James Yazzie, who has since died and was part of our 2023 True Crime Arizona documentary “The Forgotten.”

“It’s not right,” the elder Yazzie said in the video, who was clearly ailing and had trouble speaking. “Taking my daughter away and taking my grandkids’ mom. It hits me right in the heart.”

“To see him again, it brought joy to my heart, but my heart is still breaking and being put back together,” said Leona Yazzie, Jamie’s older sister.

“Today’s sentence underscores the fact that Jamie Yazzie was not forgotten by the FBI or our federal and tribal partners,” FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Jose A. Perez said in a written statement. “Our office is committed to addressing the violence that Native American communities in Arizona face every day and we will continue our efforts to protect families, help victims and ensure that justice is served in each case we pursue.”

Perhaps one of the most powerful parts of Monday’s hearing? Gabby Petito’s stepparents flew out from Florida to be in Phoenix.

Petito’s disappearance and murder immediately grabbed international headlines in 2021, highlighting the disparity in media and law enforcement attention of white women compared to Native American women.

“We were lucky to have a tremendous amount of attention for Gabby, and not everybody gets that, and we see that,” her stepfather Jim Schmidt said.

Petito’s stepparents are committed to changing that.

“We’re here to elevate their voices. Their voices are what mattered here today, and we’re just here to support them in any way we can. It’s just emotional,” said Schmidt with tears in his eyes.

“I think Gabby and Jamie are up there together shining the light down together and bringing us together,” Petito’s stepmother, Tara Petito, said.

Jamie Yazzie’s mother said she felt her daughter’s spirit there with them at the end of a long journey for a family who found their voice along the way.

“Jamie, thank you for being here and always looking over us. Giving us the guidance, and whatever we do, we did, we did it!” Denny said with a big smile.

Because James was given a life sentence, it’s likely there will be years of appeals.

Jamie Yazzie’s family said they are ready and will be at every hearing no matter how far they have to travel to be in Phoenix.

Yazzie’s case was recently shown on the True Crime Arizona documentary ‘The Forgotten’ as the epidemic continues of missing and murdered Indigenous women, also known as “MMIW.”

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

The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs characterizes the violence against Indigenous women as a crisis.

Women from Native American and Alaska Native communities have long suffered high rates of assault, abduction and murder. A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice found that more than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women — 84.3% — have experienced violence in their lifetime, including 56.1 % who have experienced sexual violence.

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