Captured!
2 men charged with stabbing

By Leslie Wood
Staff writer

GALLUP — The two suspects in the stabbing death of a 30-year-old Pine hill man were arrested Thursday evening without incident.

Deputy Police Chief John Allen, a spokesman for the Gallup Polices Department, said officers on foot patrol apprehended 16-year-old Turak Newman in the downtown walkway.

He was subsequently booked into the juvenile detention center on a single charge of accessory to murder.

At about 7 p.m., 19-year-old Bryland Skeets turned himself into detectives and reportedly confessed to stabbing Jesse James Pino Wednesday in a ditch behind the Coronado Motel on U.S. Highway 66.

He told police he was intoxicated and got into an argument with Pino and two of his acquaintances who were also injured.

Skeets did not know the topic of the argument and did not know he fatally stabbed Pino.

Those injured in the attack allegedly told police they were assaulted after they refused to give alcohol to Newman and Skeets.

Allen said Skeets also told authorities he threw the knife onto the roof of one of the local motels. Officers recovered the weapon Thursday Evening on top of the El Coronado Motel.

Skeets was booked into the McKinley County Adult Detention center on an open count of murder.

Allen also praised local detectives and foot patrol officers for their apprehension of the two men.