Man runs over, kills wife
Suspect remains at large after paperwork snafu

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — A Tse Bonito man who killed his common-law wife was released after being detained four days.

The day after Christmas around 7:55 p.m., police were dispatched to the south parking lot of Shop and Save in Window Rock, with reports of a man who ran over a woman. When they arrived on scene, they found David James Wilson, 47, behind the wheel of a red Ford Explorer that officials said he used to deliberately run over Deborah Maria Martin, 43, of Ganado.

According to the report, Martin was killed instantly after Wilson rammed into her when she was walking across the parking lot. Martin fell underneath the vehicle, she was dragged approximately 20 feet and was then lodged against a concrete parking block, according to officials. The report stated that both were consuming alcohol.

Wilson was immediately arrested, and taken to the Window Rock Detention Center, but was released on Dec. 29. The reason as to why Martin was released has yet to be clarified.

Thursday afternoon officials met at Administration # 1 to discuss how and why Martin was released. About 10 officials, including a representative from the prosecutor's officer, the reporting officer, and district lieutenant gathered for the meeting that was called by the Office of the President and the Vice President.

An Independent reporter was in attendance, but was asked to leave, and was told that the meeting was "exclusively to prosecutors and police officers and was basically a meeting regarding policy and procedure." Martin's mother and brother were also in attendance and were asked to leave also.

Originally, officials said Wilson was released by the Prosecutor's Office due to the absence of a police report; however, following the meeting, officials retracted the statement, saying that the report was submitted in a timely manner, and that what happened resulted from an error on the prosecutor's end. According to officials, the prosecutor stated that the report was apparently missing "essential information," though officials couldn't clearly state what information was absent from the report.

The Prosecutor's Office didn't return calls as of press time Friday.

Officials don't know if Martin's release was an accident or whether information was in fact missing to prevent him from being detained. When it was realized that Martin was released, a warrant was issued for his arrest. Martin has not been located.

"It's a matter of him being picked up," said Chief Jim Benally, with the Navajo Nation Public Safety Department.

According to law enforcement officials, this is not the first time that something like this has happened. People committing less violent crimes have been released.

"With the holidays and people taking off, they didn't go the extra length to do what they needed to do," said Benally.