This week, Romeo Clarence Massey Jr., pleaded guilty in Navajo County Superior Court to the 1996 cold case murder of Jody Hemphill, 28, in a music store in Lakeside, Arizona.
According to the Navajo County Attorney’s Office, Massey, of Whiteriver, pleaded guilty on January 29, 2024, to one count of murder in the second degree and one count of robbery.
Massey was arrested in June 2023, after the Pinetop-Lakeside Police Department, which has reviewed the case numerous times since 1996, obtained and analyzed new evidence that led investigators to him.
The murder victim, Hemphill, of Lakeside, was found stabbed to death on November 6, 1996, behind the counter of the Mountain Edge Tapes & CD’s store, where he was an employee.
The terms of the plea agreement stipulate Massey will be sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in the Arizona Department of Corrections.
Massey will be sentenced at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, in Navajo County Superior Court in Holbrook.