A Flagstaff man, Vaughn Seumptewa, is in custody for the death of his estranged girlfriend on Christmas Eve.
According to Flagstaff Police, on December 25, at approximately 7:18 p.m., Emergency Medical Services (EMS) was dispatched to an apartment in the 2200 block of E. Cedar Avenue, in reference a report of a female not breathing. Upon arrival, EMS personnel located 40 year old Nicole Joe deceased, on the floor, inside the apartment.
Investigators interviewed Seumptewa, who later admitted to investigators that he had been involved in a verbal and physical altercation with victim during the nighttime hours of December 24.
At some point Ms. Joe left the apartment and later returned, requesting to be let in due to the cold. Seumptewa and Ms. Joe
engaged in another confrontation and he told investigators he grabbed Ms. Joe and threw her onto the ground, and then jumped on top of her.
While on top of her, Seumptewa physically struck Ms. Joe multiple times about her head with his fists. After the assault, Seumptewa got off of Ms. Joe, and went back inside the apartment, closing and locking the door, leaving Ms. Joe unconscious on the ground where the assault occurred.
At approximately 3:00 a.m., on December 25, another of the apartment’s occupants, said he found Ms. Joe, lying on the ground outside the apartment door, when he went outside to smoke a cigarette. He brought Ms. Joe inside and laid her on the floor in the living room. None of the apartment’s occupants ever saw Ms. Joe in a conscious state on December 25.
Seumptewa was booked into the Coconino County Jail for Second degree homicide and is currently being held on a 1 million dollar bond.