A Brimhall man was sentenced to 21 years in prison on June 4 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder of a man whose body he later burned in an attempt to conceal the evidence.
According to court documents, on July 1, 2019, an individual brought Gilbert John, Jr. a stolen car and told him to "get rid of" a person locked in the trunk. John and the individual drove around smoking meth before stopping in a remote area using back roads.
When the victim tried to escape from the trunk, John stabbed the victim repeatedly with a machete and slammed the trunk door on him. After driving the car to a residence and leaving it for days, John later towed the car to a remote area and set it on fire with the body inside.
The charred remains were identified by medical device serial numbers, as the body was almost entirely burned.
After completing his term of imprisonment, John will be required to serve five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Police Department and Department of Criminal Investigations. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark A. Probasco and Alexander F. Flores are prosecuting the case.
