Gallup Sun

Two dogs go missing from the scene

By Holly J. Wagner
Sun Correspondent

It was supposed to be the start of a new life. Instead, a tragic accident ended one life and forever changed another.

Roommates Jesse Root, 21, and Faith Corcoran, 18, set out from California Feb. 8 on a cross-country move. They had lived together on Root’s grandmother’s ranch until she sold it.

The pair were bound for Indiana, where they would move in with Root’s grandfather, who has dementia, to care for him. They packed Root’s 2001 Ford Expedition with their pets and whatever necessities they could fit, then set off to their new home Feb. 8.

Corcoran’s father was to follow a few days later...

Chancey Martinez
Feb. 9, 12:53
Aggravated DWI

As the driver of a dark-colored Nissan truck neared the intersection of Midway Drive and Pittsburgh Loop, and was about to go to sleep in the middle of the intersection, a caller reported the scene to Metro Dispatch.

McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Davis was dispatched to the scene where he found the suspect vehicle. He walked up to the window and woke the driver, Chancey Martinez, 53, no address listed. As Martinez rolled down the window, Davis noted a strong smell of alcohol coming from inside the vehicle.

Martinez had trouble turning off the vehicle. He told Davis he consumed an unspecified amount of Bud Light prior to stepping...

ALBUQUERQUE – Peter Oka, 30, of Coolidge,   N.M., and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, appeared for his preliminary and detention hearing for charges of use of a firearm during a crime of violence, assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm, and assault resulting in serious bodily harm Feb. 10.

The court ordered Oka detained pending trial.

According to a criminal complaint, on Jan. 26, Oka allegedly got into an argument with the occupants of a house located on the Navajo Nation reservation. Oka allegedly retrieved a firearm and fired multiple rounds into the ceiling.

He allegedly pointed the firearm at John Doe, shooting him multiple times. Oka...

Officer sustains minor injuries

A carjacking in broad daylight led to a police chase and the arrest of Jeremy Cowboy, of Mentmore, Feb. 15.

According to a news release, the victim, who was at Hampton Inn west, 111 Twin Buttes Rd., told Metro Dispatch shortly after 1 pm that a Native American man pointed a handgun at her, and stole her blue Ford Escape SUV.

It wasn’t long before deputies from the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office located the stolen vehicle on the east side of Gallup.

The deputies followed the Escape through the Indian Hills and Red Hills neighborhoods and initiated a pursuit.

However, they lost sight of the vehicle, but only briefly.

A short time later, Gallup...