Zuni man charged in grisly ax killing

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

ZUNI PUEBLO — Zuni Police officers and FBI agents arrested 49-year-old Floyd Yuselew Monday, whom they believe killed Tyler Quam Jan. 25 using an ax. Quam’s body was not recovered until March 25 — two months later — after Yuselew told a woman that the corpse was still inside his house at lot 15 on Lesarlley Road, according to the arrest-warrant affidavit signed March 27 by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Ionta.

According to the affidavit, Yuselew thrust the blade of an ax multiple times into the head of Tyler Quam. 

Yuselew, who spent Monday night at Gallup McKinley Adult Detention Center, is charged with federal first-degree murder; he is expected to attend a preliminary hearing in Albuquerque Tuesday to determine probable cause.

Zuni Police and FBI Agents interviewed Yuselew’s “self-proclaimed common-law wife,” who told a harrowing story of murder. She said that on the night of Jan. 24, she and Yuselew were in bed when Quam entered the house.

Yuselew grew upset that Quam had entered through a door he thought was locked, and he called Quam a witch. Quam told the couple he had fought with his family that evening; he asked if he could spend the night.

Yuselew agreed and allowed Quam to sleep in a chair in the bedroom. The next day Yuselew, his wife and Quam bought a case of beer and two bottles of vodka, which they drank that day at Yuselew’s house on Lesarlley Road. Yuselew’s wife told FBI Agents that she was preparing food in the bedroom when she first heard Yuselew threaten Quam. He told Quam that if he touched his wife again, he would kill him, according to the affidavit.

Yuselew’s wife told the FBI she had never been touched by Quam.

After a short time, while Quam was seated in a chair with his back to the doorway, Yuselew left the room briefly before returning with an ax. He repeated his threat, saying that he had already told Quam that if he touched his wife again, he would kill him.

“Floyd Yuselew then raised the ax and struck Tyler Quam about the head and neck at least twice with the ax,” the affidavit reads.

Yuselew’s wife told Zuni officers and FBI agents that, at that point, he turned on her — still carrying the ax. She managed to take it away, but Yuselew punched her in the face repeatedly. The affidavit says that the beating left a laceration on her left eye, which was confirmed by a witness.

The couple then left the house at Lesarlley Road, Quam’s body still in the chair, and they were never to stay the night there again. When Zuni Police and FBI agents responded to the house March 25, there was a padlock on the door and food rotting inside.

During the two months between the killing and his arrest, Yuselew returned to the house on occasion to collect clothing and food. He confessed to a relative, whom he told that he would borrow a truck to dump the body if he had to, or maybe he would bury it.

When Zuni Police and FBI agents executed a search warrant at lot 15 on Lesarlley Road March 26, they found an ax near the chicken coop, buried under 4 feet of dirt.