MOAB, Utah, Nov. 15, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A trio of men arrested in connection with a homicide in Moab have been extradited from Arizona to Utah.
All three suspects in the homicide of Edgar Najera on Oct. 28 were extradited from the Coconino County Detention Facility in Flagstaff, Arizona to Moab, the Moab City Police Department said in a news release on Facebook.
Irvin Martin Verduzco-Armenta, Jaime Flores-Solis and Jorge Hernandez will be held in the Grand County Sheriff’s Office jail pending the adjudication of the case.
Verduzco-Armenta, aka Omar Guerra, was apprehended Oct. 31 by officers with the Navajo Nation Police Department, Tuba City and Kayenta Districts, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol.
Arizona officers pursued Verduzco-Armenta nearly 100 miles, according to a statement from the Moab Police Department.
Verduzco-Armenta, 30, is suspected of killing Najera in Moab on Oct. 28.
“At approximately 20:00 hours, a Navajo Nation police officer responded to a report of suspicious activity involving three Hispanic males,” the Moab Police statement says.
“The officer located the suspects and engaged in a brief vehicle pursuit before losing sight of them on a dirt road near Tuba City. Sometime later, another officer located their vehicle parked on the side of the highway.
“The subjects fled and another pursuit was initiated, this time involving multiple officers. The pursuit continued for nearly 100 miles before the suspect vehicle overheated and became disabled, at which time all three suspects exited the vehicle and fled on foot. Officers pursued the subjects and apprehended two of them in a field, and the third in a residential area.”
In addition to Verduzco-Armenta, Flores-Solis and Hernandez were taken into custody on multiple charges stemming from the suspicious activity report and the subsequent pursuit.
“Flores-Solis and Hernandez are both Moab residents and are believed to be involved in the homicide of Mr. Najera,” the news release states. “Investigators with the Moab City Police Department believe that Flores-Solis and Hernandez conspired to conceal and/or transport Verduzco-Armenta subsequent to the homicide.”
On the day of the homicide, Moab police were called to to the victim’s trailer on a report of a fight in progress.
“When officers arrived they were contacted by a resident and led to a trailer where they discovered an individual (Najera) deceased from apparent multiple gunshot wounds,” a news release said.
Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information is made available.
