On Friday, the body of a Hispanic male was found in the Verde River near the Tunlii crossing and is believed to be 39-year-old Valentin Rodriguez. Rodrigues was wanted as a suspect in the shooting of Yavapai-Apache Police Sergeant Preston Brogdon on February 9, 2022.
At approximately 4:00 p.m., a father and son fishing near the scene saw a body in the river and contacted 911. The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office, Yavapai-Apache Police Department and the FBI responded to the scene.
Formal dentification of the body is pending and the cause of death is not yet known, however personal items on the body have led law enforcement to tentatively believe it to be the suspect Rodriguez.
Also on Friday, the FBI’s Phoenix Field Office released two short videos that capture images of Rodriguez in a convenience store hours before his alleged involvement in an officer involved shooting on Wednesday, February 9th on the Yavapai-Apache Nation Reservation.
The videos show Rodriguez entering the Market Place Conoco in Camp Verde, Arizona around noon that day and then waiting at the checkout counter to purchase beverages. Rodriguez returned to the Conoco station around 3:15 that same afternoon. The store, located at 3400 Arizona Highway 260, is approximately half a mile from the shooting scene.
Rodriguez allegedly opened fire on two Yavapai-Apache Police officers responding to a 911 call for shots fired in the Tunli housing area on the reservation at around 7:30 p.m. on February 9th – severely injuring one officer.