0:00

On a July morning and Ninety

0:02

Ninety Wine, a terrible pattern of

0:04

suspicious deaths in North Carolina began

0:07

when dog wagging years body was

0:09

struck on a strip of railroad

0:11

tracks in the year after three

0:13

teens suddenly disappeared before being found

0:15

deceased near a boat ramp in

0:17

the nearby Run Oak River. Law.

0:20

Enforcement was quick to rule these

0:22

deaths accidental drownings, but the truck

0:24

the trio had reportedly been driving

0:26

in remained at mysteriously missing until

0:28

reappearing after a citywide blackout in

0:30

a place that had already been

0:32

searched by the authorities. I'm investigative

0:34

journalist Delia D. Umbra, and at

0:36

first I wasn't sure if these

0:38

deaths were truly a part of

0:40

a pattern related to Doug's death,

0:42

but now I see that this

0:44

reinvestigation may just hold the key

0:47

to unraveling that of the darkest

0:49

secrets in. Eastern North Carolina

0:51

History. Listen. To the

0:53

Trio Encounter clock Season Six wherever

0:55

you listen to podcasts, There

0:57

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2:03

Hi, park enthusiasts. I'm your host, Delia

2:05

D'Ambra, and the case I'm gonna tell

2:08

you about today takes place in the

2:10

Grand Canyon at a remote spot known

2:12

for being a hidden paradise, Havasu

2:15

Falls. This

2:17

area technically sits outside of Grand

2:19

Canyon National Park and is within

2:21

the boundary of the Havasu-By Native

2:23

American Reservation. This story

2:25

is a tragic tale of murder, and

2:27

unlike some cases I've told you about

2:30

it doesn't have a complicated narrative.

2:33

There aren't multiple people involved or multiple

2:35

theories about what might have really happened.

2:38

It's the case of a cold-blooded killing

2:40

perpetrated by a young man who was

2:42

hell-bent on robbing and killing the most

2:45

vulnerable person he thought he could find, a

2:48

young woman hiking alone. He

2:50

used his lifelong knowledge of the remote rugged

2:53

landscape he'd grown up in to try and

2:55

cover up his crime, but

2:57

eventually it all caught up to him. The

3:00

murder of Tamami Hanamure in the summer of 2006

3:03

should be a case that sticks with you

3:05

long after listening to this episode. She

3:08

was a young Japanese woman with so much

3:10

life still ahead of her and so much

3:12

left to give this world, but

3:14

it was all cruelly ripped away from her

3:16

far too soon. I

3:19

also want you to remember this episode for

3:21

another reason. Remember it as

3:23

a warning, to think twice

3:25

whenever you encounter someone who says they're

3:27

a local. Maybe you've

3:29

bumped into someone like this on a

3:32

trail or while getting directions traveling internationally.

3:35

Well, let this episode be a

3:37

reminder that sometimes a local may

3:39

be the last person you want

3:41

to encounter. This

3:44

is Park Predators. On

4:05

the morning of Tuesday, May 9, 2006,

4:07

a housekeeper working inside a lodge

4:10

on the outskirts of the remote Havasupai

4:12

Reservation Village of Supai opened the door

4:14

to a guest room only to see

4:16

that the bed was still made and

4:18

didn't look like it had been slept

4:20

in. She thought

4:22

that was kind of odd, so staff

4:24

at the lodge checked the records and

4:26

saw that a 34-year-old woman from Japan

4:28

named Tamami Hanamure was the registered guest

4:30

for the room. But from

4:32

the looks of things, it didn't appear as if she'd

4:34

stayed the night there. Several

4:36

of Tamami's personal belongings, like her passport,

4:38

were still inside the room, which

4:41

indicated to staff members that she likely was

4:43

planning on coming back at some point but

4:45

for some reason just hadn't yet. The

4:49

source material isn't clear on when exactly

4:51

the lodge's staff checked in on Tamami's

4:53

room again, but at some

4:55

point that afternoon her absence became

4:57

noticeable, and that caused the employees at

4:59

the lodge to grow concerned, enough

5:01

so that they contacted the Coconino

5:03

County Sheriff's Office in Arizona to

5:06

inform deputies that one of their

5:08

guests was missing. The

5:10

next day, May 10, more than

5:12

40 Sheriff's Office deputies and certain rescue

5:14

volunteers made their way to the remote

5:16

village and started fanning out to look

5:19

for Tamami. At that

5:21

point, the crews were worried that she

5:23

had fallen or become injured somewhere on

5:25

the rocky two mile trail leading from

5:27

the village of Supai to Havasu Falls.

5:30

The trek wasn't the easiest to make,

5:32

and because Tamami was believed to be

5:34

traveling alone, authorities figured it was possible

5:36

she'd either gotten lost or needed medical

5:38

attention and had no one with her

5:40

to call for help. Along

5:43

the hike to the falls, the lazy

5:45

creek got bubbled through the small Native

5:47

American village, gradually got much swifter, and

5:50

eventually led to several tall, cascading waterfalls.

5:53

A sense of urgency to find Tamami before

5:55

something worse happened to her in that environment

5:57

was felt by everyone who was looking for

6:00

for her. And just

6:02

to give you a little bit of

6:04

background on this geographic area for a

6:06

second, it's important to know that if

6:08

you ever visit that part of Havasupai

6:10

Reservation, you must be committed to enduring

6:12

intense heat, lots of hiking, and the

6:14

inability to really reach the outside world.

6:17

Your spot is for all my off the gritters.

6:19

You guys know who you are. Anyway,

6:22

there is literally zero cell phone

6:24

service in this remote town. It's

6:26

mostly just old buildings, horse-hitching stations,

6:28

a small school, campground store, and

6:30

the tourist lodge. It's

6:33

one of the most remote spots in the

6:35

Grand Canyon and has the reputation among visitors

6:37

as being a destination only few dedicated people

6:39

can make it to. There

6:41

are no roads that lead there, and you

6:43

can only access it if you're walking, riding

6:45

a horse, or if you contract a helicopter.

6:49

As author Annette McGivney describes it in her

6:51

book, Pure Land, when you start hiking from

6:53

the Supai Trailhead at the dead end of

6:55

Indian Road 18, you're

6:57

roughly 80 miles from the nearest gas

6:59

station. Once you get

7:02

going, you'll meander for several miles down a

7:04

steep descent into the Grand Canyon. The

7:06

iconic blue-green color in the canyon's

7:08

creek and pools leads visitors through

7:11

the area to the remote village

7:13

and eventually to Havasupai Falls. And

7:16

it's the falls that are the main attraction

7:18

for most everyone who visits the area. They're

7:20

what had attracted Tamami to the spot back

7:22

in May 2006. The

7:25

features turquoise-colored water pours out roughly 100

7:27

feet, and it's a site

7:29

unlike anything else on Earth. The

7:32

unique geologic rock formations around it can only

7:34

be found in the Grand Canyon, and many

7:36

people who visited say the spot has got

7:38

a heaven on Earth kind of vibe. Annette

7:41

McGivney wrote that roughly 20,000 to 25,000 people visit

7:45

the falls every year, just to catch a

7:47

glimpse of the amazing landscape. Law

7:50

enforcement figured Tamami had to be somewhere

7:52

between the small village where she checked

7:54

into her room and the falls. But

7:57

where exactly in that two-mile stretch

7:59

is what they were having trouble figuring out.

8:03

The month of May was when Supai was

8:05

the busiest it would be all year, which

8:07

turned out to be kind of a benefit

8:09

for law enforcement investigators because there were hundreds

8:11

of people in town, including lots of visitors

8:14

that they could stop and interview. But

8:16

each tourist the sheriff's office interviewed had

8:19

little to no information to report about

8:21

to mommy. No one had

8:23

remembered bumping into her on May 8th, the day

8:25

before staff at the lodge had noticed her missing.

8:28

The only scrap of information investigators learned

8:30

was that to mommy was last seen

8:33

walking in the direction of Havasu Falls.

8:36

In their hunt for clues, investigators checked a

8:38

parking lot several miles back off of Indian

8:40

road 18, near the start of

8:43

the Supai trailhead. There authorities

8:45

located a rental car that came back

8:47

as belonging to to mommy. The

8:49

LA times and Arizona daily son reported that

8:52

she'd picked up the car in Los Angeles

8:54

when she'd arrived in the US the week

8:56

before and then driven it to Arizona. Mark

8:59

Schafer reported for the Arizona Republic that

9:01

to mommy's travel record showed she'd driven

9:03

around seven hours from Los Angeles to

9:05

Flagstaff, Arizona, spent the night in a

9:07

motel there, then took off for the

9:09

trailhead at about four o'clock in the

9:12

morning on May 8th. She'd

9:14

parked and hiked to the tourist lodge by

9:16

that afternoon. When authorities

9:18

found the rental car, it was locked and

9:20

a handful of to mommy's personal belongings were

9:23

still inside of it, which told investigators she

9:25

likely taken only what she needed to make

9:27

the hike to Supai. Basically,

9:30

she had enough with her to go to the falls,

9:32

stay the night and then leave. However,

9:34

clearly she'd not left the area since the

9:36

car she'd rented was still where she parked

9:39

it. But critical items

9:41

that were missing from both the car

9:43

and to mommy's room at the lodge

9:45

were her cell phone, camera, credit cards

9:47

and cash. Finding

9:49

the car wasn't surprising since everyone who

9:51

traveled to the village had to leave

9:53

their vehicles behind near the trailhead. The

9:56

inability to drive to Supai was a known

9:58

thing. The fact that

10:00

Tamami's overnight belongings had been found at the

10:02

lodge confirmed she'd safely made it to town

10:05

and checked into her room without any problems.

10:08

But what happened to her after she left her

10:10

room was the question police needed to answer. The

10:14

lodge and a public campground are the only

10:16

two places in town where visitors to the

10:18

canyon can stay. The rest of

10:21

Supai Village that's not designated for visitors

10:23

is described as clusters of dilapidated homes

10:25

and makeshift buildings that belong to the

10:27

local tribe members. According

10:30

to officers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs

10:32

and an agent from the FBI, violent

10:34

crime was an issue at the time

10:36

of Tamami's disappearance, which is why the

10:39

tourist lodge she'd stayed sits behind a

10:41

20-foot-high concrete wall and has an iron

10:43

gate that staff members lock every night.

10:46

The threat of visitors' belongings being

10:48

stolen is ever-present, so essentially the

10:50

tourist lodge has become its own

10:52

compound isolated from the rest of

10:54

the town. And

10:57

in 2006, there had been a spike in

10:59

property crimes and assaults. Annette

11:01

McGivney reported that the two stationed police

11:03

officers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs

11:05

who worked in Supai had been tracking

11:07

a group of teenagers who were stealing

11:10

tourist stuff so they could buy alcohol

11:12

and drugs. Other more

11:14

serious crimes the Bureau police were investigating

11:16

included fights between tribal members, usually

11:19

involving a weapon or reports of child

11:21

abuse. By and

11:23

large, though, most of the crime in

11:25

the area back in 2006 and even

11:27

still today is directly tied to the

11:29

fact that two-thirds of the residents live

11:31

below the poverty line, struggle with substance

11:33

use disorders, can't send their high school-aged

11:36

children to schools close by, or have

11:38

limited access to health care services. But

11:41

a tourist vanishing without a trace was

11:43

not something law enforcement and the reservation

11:46

back in 2006 encountered often. Very

11:49

rarely had someone who was traveling internationally

11:51

been abducted or murdered in that part

11:53

of the reservation, which is why Tamami's

11:55

case stood out to everyone. a

12:00

lot of attention from the American and global

12:02

press. Several

12:05

news articles reported that Tamami had literally

12:07

traveled across the world to visit the

12:09

US during the summer of 2006. She

12:13

was from a town in a suburb of Tokyo and

12:15

as a treat to herself for her 34th birthday, she

12:18

planned her solo trip to Havasu Falls

12:20

to celebrate. And she

12:23

was no stranger to traveling alone internationally.

12:26

According to Annette McGivney's reporting for

12:28

Backpacker magazine and John Doherty's article

12:30

for High Country News, Tamami

12:32

had actually visited spots in the Grand

12:34

Canyon several times before 2006. She

12:38

visited America a couple of times in her

12:40

life and moved to the US temporarily to

12:42

attend a university in Mississippi to learn English

12:45

at one point. But

12:47

despite any hope that Tamami's general familiarity

12:49

with the Grand Canyon or Southwest United

12:51

States landscape might make it easier for

12:53

her if she'd been forced to take

12:55

shelter in a remote spot or

12:58

something like that, no sign of her

13:00

turned up. May 11th

13:02

passed and then the 12th came and went.

13:05

But there was still no progress in the investigation

13:07

or any trace of Tamami. Then

13:10

on May 13th, 2006, five

13:13

days after she'd last been seen checking into her

13:15

room at the lodge, authorities learned

13:17

a swimmer at one of the falls came

13:20

across the body of a young Asian woman

13:23

who closely resembled Tamami. The

13:26

woman's body was drifting in a large pool

13:28

near the falls. Local investigators and

13:30

special agents with the FBI who joined

13:33

the search showed up to the scene

13:35

and quickly realized after looking at the

13:37

body that the woman had sustained multiple

13:39

stab wounds. She was pronounced

13:41

dead at 2.45 p.m. and

13:44

within just a short time, Tamami's

13:46

missing person investigation was over and

13:49

a murder investigation was officially underway.

13:52

There Was no doubt in everyone's mind that

13:54

the woman who'd been found in a large

13:56

pool near the falls was Tamami. He

14:00

was positively identified. The F B I

14:02

soon the lead role in the investigation.

14:05

Apparently Bureau of Indian Affairs Police and

14:07

the administration of the Have A Soup

14:09

I tried often allow the F B

14:12

I to come in and manage violent

14:14

crime investigation. Especially. In

14:16

situations like this. Or. At

14:18

least they did, and he doesn't. Six. The.

14:21

Us attorney for that part of Arizona

14:23

at the time told reporters that it

14:25

had been five years since the homicide

14:27

occurred and super. I

14:30

let me give me the forty for backpacker

14:32

magazine that after two mommies body was carried

14:34

out of the area where it had been

14:36

found and Arizona Department of Public since the

14:38

helicopter flew her out of the Kenyan entirely.

14:42

The F B I immediately dispatched a

14:44

dive teens search the pool she'd been

14:46

found and for clues and potential forensic

14:48

evidence. What? Is anything The

14:50

team sound was not disclosed to the public.

14:53

It's. Worth mentioning though that The Los Angeles

14:55

Times later reported that some of two

14:57

mommies personal items had been located near

15:00

her body. But. What does items

15:02

were. Is unclear. According

15:04

to more reporting by an Atm and

15:06

give me an East valley.com The cooking

15:08

you know County medical examiner conducted to

15:10

mom is autopsy two days later. On

15:12

base is t. That. Examination

15:14

revealed that the injuries the thirty four

15:17

year old had endured. Were extremely

15:19

brutal. Of

15:22

the twenty nine stab wounds the any

15:24

noted on her body, twenty two of

15:26

them are concentrated to to mommy's head

15:28

and nest. The others were

15:30

to her arms and a hand. With.

15:32

The medical examiner noted were likely due to to

15:34

mommy trying to fight off her. Attacker.

15:37

The. Weapon the killer use was determined to

15:39

be about three to four inches long and

15:42

at least one inch wide. In

15:44

addition to her defensive wounds to mommy

15:46

also had a punctured lung and ships

15:48

goal from where her killer had landed

15:50

hard blows during the assault. in

15:53

addition to observing her injuries the

15:55

emmy also collected to mommy's fingerprints

15:57

fingernail clippings in a sexual assault

16:01

And that last thing, the sexual assault

16:03

kit, was just done to be extra

16:05

thorough, because according to Annette McGivney's article

16:07

for Backpacker that I mentioned earlier, the

16:09

Emmy didn't find any obvious signs that

16:11

Tamami had been sexually assaulted when he

16:14

conducted her autopsy. But just

16:16

in case, he collected a kit anyway.

16:19

The autopsy report went on to explain that

16:21

when Tamami was found, she was wearing

16:23

brown boots, a brown short sleeve shirt,

16:25

a dark blue short sleeve shirt, green

16:27

shorts, all of which had blood on

16:29

them, a bra, underwear,

16:31

and socks. The

16:34

report specifically said she was wearing two

16:36

pairs of socks on each foot, which

16:38

I imagine she'd probably done to prevent

16:40

getting blisters while hiking. I

16:42

don't know for sure, but I can say that

16:44

I have also worn multiple socks while hiking to

16:46

help cushion my feet and my hiking boots. Positively

16:50

identifying Tamami wasn't difficult, because

16:52

she had two tattoos which

16:54

were unique. One was

16:56

a Japanese symbol inked on her left foot that

16:58

translated to the word hana, the first part

17:00

of her last name, which means flower. And

17:03

the other tattoo was a heart on her lower

17:05

abdomen. Chris Khan

17:07

reported for the Associated Press that Tamami's

17:09

immediate and extended family in Japan knew

17:12

how much she loved visiting the United

17:14

States and traveling alone. The

17:16

plan, at least in her family's mind, was

17:18

for her to experience all the scenic locations

17:21

in North America she wanted to visit, then

17:23

return home to Japan to help care for

17:25

her father after he retired and got older.

17:28

When news of Tamami's murder made it

17:30

to her family in Japan, they were

17:32

all understandably devastated. Her father,

17:35

Tetsushi Hanamure, declined to speak with journalists

17:37

from the United States or Japan once

17:39

he learned about what had happened to

17:41

his daughter. Via the

17:43

Japanese consulate in America, he said that

17:45

the loss had caused him to be

17:48

quote, very, very distraught, end quote. And

17:52

it wasn't just Tamami's family that was avoiding

17:54

the press. After the

17:56

murder, the Havasupai Tribal Council, with the

17:58

support of law enforcement, made the

18:00

decision to ban all journalists from coming

18:02

into the reservation to continue covering the

18:05

story. Annette McGivney wrote

18:07

in her book Pure Land that the council

18:09

viewed the media attention the story was getting

18:11

as a negative thing that would hurt the

18:13

two million dollar tourism industry in the region.

18:17

So the council enacted a strict

18:19

no media policy which everyone in

18:21

the journalism community was forced to

18:23

take seriously. Trespassing on

18:25

the soil of a sovereign Native American

18:27

nation is a big no-no. As

18:30

a matter of fact John Doherty

18:32

reported for High Country News that

18:34

the Bureau of Indian Affairs took

18:36

this matter so seriously it issued

18:39

a formal statement on its website

18:41

saying if media representatives violated the

18:43

policy they would quote, be immediately

18:45

detained by BIA police and escorted

18:47

off the reservation and film recordings

18:49

and notes will be subject to

18:51

confiscation." Now

18:54

the Japanese media outlets were furious

18:56

with this policy. News

18:58

crews and journalists from Japan had traveled

19:00

thousands of miles to Arizona and were

19:03

even temporarily camped outside the boundary of

19:05

the reservation. Some of

19:07

them had also posted up near the Coconino

19:09

Sheriff's Office. Annette McGivney

19:11

and the Arizona Republic reported that journalists

19:13

from Japan openly expressed in their coverage

19:16

of the murder that they did not

19:18

think the United States government was doing

19:20

enough to investigate Tamami's death. Their

19:23

outrage was palpable which only ratted it

19:25

up the pressure on the FBI to

19:27

identify a killer and make an arrest.

19:30

Simultaneously tensions inside the Havasupai

19:33

reservation among the locals were

19:35

boiling over. Pretty

19:38

much immediately after Tamami was found dead

19:40

a handful of locals sent out a

19:42

very clear message to everyone who called

19:44

Supai home. Do

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22:23

Annette McGivney reported that in the weeks

22:26

following Tamami's murder, time and time again,

22:28

the FBI agent in charge of the

22:30

homicide investigation was met with closed doors

22:32

in Supes. Residents from

22:35

the village were noticeably uncooperative, and

22:37

those who did speak with investigators

22:39

later suffered retaliation from other members

22:41

in the tribe. There

22:43

were reports of people who spoke with police later

22:45

enduring harassment and beatings at the hands of their

22:48

neighbors. A

22:50

reason for this was the Havasupai's

22:52

lifelong deep distrust of the American

22:54

government. In particular, law

22:57

men and women who historically had

22:59

never treated the nation humanely or

23:01

fairly. I won't

23:03

go into too much detail of the

23:05

lengthy history, but I think it's important

23:08

for all of you to know that

23:10

basically in 1919, when Grand Canyon National

23:12

Park was established, the Havasupai people were

23:14

cruelly booted from their homeland and forced

23:16

into the reservation under terrible conditions. More

23:20

than a century of trying to survive

23:22

in harsh conditions with zero help and

23:24

only threats from the U.S. government had

23:26

left a deep-seated rift between the tribe

23:29

and members of law enforcement from outside

23:31

the reservation. Despite most members of the

23:33

tribe refusing to cooperate with the FBI

23:35

and Tamami's case, one potential

23:38

suspect did surface that investigators

23:40

were forced to take a close look at. According

23:43

to Annette McGivney's reporting, an Irish man named

23:46

Neil, who'd been living in Supes

23:48

for a few weeks leading up to the

23:50

murder, was a person who investigators felt like

23:52

they'd been able to detect several boxes as

23:54

a potential person of interest. For

23:57

one thing, Neil was an ahead

24:00

of bright red hair which made him stand out

24:02

compared to everyone else in the area. At

24:05

least one witness living in the village

24:07

told investigators that they'd seen Neil in

24:10

the town's cafe on May 8th talking

24:12

with Tamami. This

24:14

account turned out to be true and

24:16

was later corroborated by other people. That

24:19

alone made Neil interesting to the authorities.

24:22

When the FBI investigated him a little more, they

24:25

learned that he was a bit of an odd

24:27

duck and had been living in the village for

24:29

a few weeks prior to Tamami's murder.

24:32

He often slept on the ground outside of town

24:34

near the creek or couch surfed between

24:36

tribal members' homes while partying. And

24:39

a few locals told the authorities that Neil

24:42

had expressed a bunch of grandiose ideas

24:44

about how the tribe could and should

24:46

rightfully claim their homeland back from the

24:48

U.S. government. But what

24:50

really piqued the FBI's interest in Neil

24:53

were allegations that he'd made some aggressive

24:55

sexual advances on women from the tribe.

24:59

After probing further regarding those reports, the

25:01

FBI learned that Neil had crossed the

25:03

line with a woman during a sweat

25:05

lodge gathering on the night of May

25:07

9th, and he'd been severely beaten

25:09

for that. Afterwards he

25:11

was found completely nude, suffering from head

25:13

trauma along the village's creek, and he

25:16

was immediately evacuated via helicopter on May

25:18

10th. Still

25:20

being gone from the reservation on May 10th

25:22

didn't mean he wasn't the killer, because we

25:24

know that he was alive and well on

25:26

May 8th and 9th. But

25:29

the more the FBI agent in charge of

25:31

the case learned, the less and less he

25:33

suspected Neil of Tamami's murder. None

25:36

of the source material really goes into detail as

25:38

to how the feds cleared Neil. All

25:40

I could find was Annette McGibney's coverage

25:42

that states the FBI told her that

25:44

Neil was interviewed but eventually dismissed as

25:46

a suspect. While

25:48

they'd been looking into him, FBI agents

25:51

had also learned a lot of other

25:53

valuable information about solo female hikers in

25:55

the canyon. And this

25:57

information struck a big chord. Annette

26:01

McGivney reported in her piece for Backpacker

26:03

that while the FBI was conducting its

26:05

investigation, reports slowly started coming in from

26:07

other women who said they'd been hiking

26:10

alone or staying in the Supai campground

26:12

around the spring and summer of And

26:16

these women's stories were that they'd been violently

26:18

attacked. An FBI agent

26:20

told McGivney, quote, these all happened within

26:23

a few months before or after the

26:25

murder. They wanted me to know

26:27

because they thought it might help us find the

26:29

killer, end quote. Apparently

26:31

all these incidents that investigators were hearing

26:33

about had initially gone unreported when they

26:36

first happened. It was only in the

26:38

wake of Tamami's murder that the victims

26:40

of these assaults had decided to come

26:42

forward. In most of

26:44

the cases, the victims reported that young men

26:47

from the tribe verbally harassed them with sexually

26:49

intimidating comments while they'd been hiking. A

26:51

lot of the times this happened in secluded spots

26:54

along the trail. And

26:56

at least two cases, young men had just straight

26:58

up grabbed the victims and attempted to pull them

27:00

off the trail. Thankfully, these

27:03

women from those assaults managed to ward off

27:05

their attackers and get a wall. But

27:08

no matter how hard the FBI tried

27:10

to identify whoever these local young men

27:12

were who were being accused of this

27:14

behavior, they got nowhere. Investigators

27:17

chased down and followed up dozens of leads,

27:19

but nothing seemed to pan out. At

27:22

least, that's how it appeared to the public. And

27:25

then the case just went quiet for weeks.

27:28

In July, the FBI offered up a $5,000 reward

27:31

for information, but again, nothing

27:33

compelling enough came forward and

27:35

didn't help detectives. Because

27:38

the press was unable to report on the

27:40

story due to the tribal council's standing media

27:42

ban, many people just kind of forgot about

27:44

Tamami for a while. That

27:47

is, until seven months later, when December 5,

27:49

2006 rolled around. That

27:53

Day, a Federal Grand Jury

27:56

formally indicted an 18-year-old Havasupai

27:58

member named Randy Reddy. Hell

28:00

when Danny. The. Five

28:02

count indictment charged him with two

28:04

mommies murder, kidnapping, and robbery. Up

28:08

until that point, Randy's name had never

28:10

been publicly mentioned in relation to the

28:12

climb. However, according to reporting

28:14

by The Los Angeles Times and a

28:16

net like Give Me. Keep. It

28:18

in tribal custody for unrelated assault

28:20

charges. Since shortly after to mommy

28:23

disappeared. And already reported

28:25

for High Country News. And in February

28:27

two thousand and six really have been

28:29

released from the juvenile justice system. Than

28:31

shortly thereafter he was picked up by

28:33

reservation police officers for assaulting a fellow

28:36

tried member. The. Source material

28:38

doesn't explain exactly why, but for

28:40

some reason Randy wasn't prosecuted for

28:42

the assault and was yet again

28:44

released from custody. Three.

28:46

Months later is when To Mommy was murdered.

28:49

Than a Simple. Shortly after she

28:51

was called. Holding picked up a good

28:54

food and related case of the see. All.

28:57

The summer two thousand and six down

28:59

to are considered hinder Two Sisters for

29:01

her murder. And according to the

29:03

lead as the ice disillusioned on the case

29:05

when he had come on to investigators radar

29:08

not long after to mommy was found. Some.

29:10

Of our official stuff sure as saying how

29:13

they came to suspect randy. Nor.

29:15

Would they comment about if a murder weapon

29:17

had been located? After

29:19

being indicted, Randy was transferred out of

29:21

have sued by custody and into the

29:23

custody of the Us Marshals to wait

29:25

his first appearance. And in Arizona court room.

29:29

His. Case documents detailed how prosecutors were

29:31

prepared to prove beyond a reasonable

29:33

doubt that Randy was to mommy's

29:35

killer. The authorities believe that

29:37

Randy had an bus to Mommy while she was

29:39

hiking alone on her way to have a Says

29:41

Falls. His end goal was

29:43

to rob her of her cell phone, camera,

29:46

credit cards, and cash. The.

29:48

Indictment specifically said that her death was

29:50

not just a result of being

29:52

attacked, but in fact a premeditated killing

29:54

Randy had intended to carry a. Whole

29:58

fell to the as a clinical. the

30:00

case, told the Los Angeles Times, quote,

30:03

the facts underlying the indictment reflect the

30:05

last moments of a young lady who

30:07

came from Japan to enjoy the beauty

30:09

of this country and who instead met

30:11

a senseless and tragic end to

30:14

her life. Our thoughts

30:16

remain with Miss Hanamir's family during

30:18

this difficult time, end quote. A

30:22

week after being indicted, Randy was assigned

30:24

a public defender who immediately filed a

30:26

unique motion. It had

30:28

to do with a small but very important

30:30

language barrier issue. Randy was

30:32

Native American and according to what

30:34

his mother told the court, the

30:36

only language he spoke fluently or

30:38

efficiently was Havasupai. So

30:41

his lawyer argued before a mandatory detention

30:43

hearing that because English was not Randy's

30:45

first language, he needed to have someone

30:47

interpret for him during all of his

30:49

court proceedings. His attorney

30:51

asked the presiding federal magistrate to

30:54

continue Randy's detention hearing until the

30:56

court could find a suitable Havasupai

30:58

interpreter. But according to court

31:00

documents, the federal magistrate was like, no, we're

31:02

gonna get this taken care of now. And

31:04

it didn't take long before an approved interpreter

31:06

was found and patched in via telephone, which

31:09

meant Randy's December 12th detention hearing got underway

31:11

without much of a delay. At the

31:14

conclusion of the hearing, the magistrate denied

31:16

Randy a pretrial release and deemed him

31:19

a danger and a flight risk. A

31:22

week later on December 20th, Randy and

31:24

his lawyer and a court-appointed interpreter appeared

31:26

in court again for his first appearance

31:28

and he entered a plea of not guilty, which meant

31:31

the case was headed to trial. While

31:33

that was happening, news of Randy's arrest

31:35

and indictment got out to the public. Once

31:38

words circulated that a local Havasupai teenager

31:40

was alleged to be behind to mommy's

31:43

brutal murder, the floodgates from the press

31:45

opened. Publications started

31:47

doing deep dives into Randy's background and

31:49

learned a lot about the young man

31:51

who was now facing federal murder

31:53

charges And none of it

31:55

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There's no safe, but simply safe. The

34:51

picture of

34:53

Randy Westigami's life by the time he

34:55

turned 18 was not a pretty one. According

34:59

to multiple news reports, he

35:01

dropped out of high school and by the time he

35:03

was a teenager, he'd earned a reputation of being a

35:05

delinquent. Prior to that though, he'd been in trouble

35:08

at schools in the reservation for everything

35:10

from verbal sexual abuse to assaulting other

35:12

students to attacking teachers. Larry

35:14

Hendricks reported for the Arizona Daily

35:17

Sun that by the time Randy turned 18, he'd

35:19

been through more than eight drug and

35:21

alcohol treatment programs. He'd resumed using after

35:23

each. According

35:25

to law enforcement officials and Annette McGivney's reporting,

35:28

from as young as middle school age, Randy

35:31

had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. In

35:34

his later teen years, he'd developed an addiction

35:37

to methamphetamine. He'd spent a lot of time in

35:39

and out of juvenile detention centers

35:41

in Arizona. And on several occasions when

35:43

he wasn't in one of those facilities, Randy was in

35:45

foster care. Annette

35:48

McGivney reported that after Randy's parents were

35:51

in the hospital, Randy was in foster care. He

35:54

was in the hospital when he was five. He was in

35:56

the hospital when he was five. He was in the hospital

35:58

when he was five. Randy

36:01

had two other siblings who also were caught

36:03

up in these legal battles. Leading

36:05

up to Tamami's murder on May 8th, 2006, Randy

36:07

had been bouncing around living

36:09

wherever he could in Supai. One

36:12

Bureau of Indian Affairs officer told author

36:14

Annette McGivney, quote, his whole life he

36:17

was a loner. Normally

36:20

guys Randy's age hung out in groups together

36:22

in the village. Law enforcement

36:24

said many young men like him who didn't

36:27

leave the tribe or go off to school

36:29

elsewhere in the country usually found work helping

36:31

their families bring tourists to and from the

36:33

village or drive mules to the canyon picking

36:35

up and delivering goods. But

36:38

not Randy. He had no

36:40

friends or buddies he hung out with. He

36:42

truly was on his own. Despite

36:45

by that point Randy's lengthy history

36:47

of bad behavior and confirmed criminal

36:49

activity as well as a strong

36:51

case against him for Tamami's death,

36:53

his father Billy Westgami told Annette

36:55

McGivney that his son was not

36:57

a murderer. Billy openly

36:59

admitted that Randy was a thief and struggled

37:01

with substance use but he claimed that Randy

37:04

would never have gone as far as killing

37:06

someone unless he was under the influence of

37:08

meth. Had a

37:10

Supai tribal leadership's reaction to Randy's indictment

37:13

and arrest was a deep sense of

37:15

shock and surprise. The

37:17

tribe's chairman penned a formal letter detailing how

37:19

unexpected Randy's arrest was as well as the

37:22

fact that a murder had occurred in the

37:24

reservation to begin with. On

37:27

September 18 2007 what was expected

37:30

to be a long ordeal in court with

37:32

a jury trial ended abruptly when

37:34

Randy decided to take a plea deal

37:36

for second-degree murder. According

37:38

to court documents the prosecution decided

37:41

to downgrade his first-degree murder charge

37:43

to second-degree murder and toss out

37:45

the kidnapping and robbery charges. However

37:48

the court still had the right to consider

37:50

those crimes when it came to sentencing Randy.

37:54

Interestingly in the transcript for the plea

37:56

hearing, Randy's lawyer revealed to the court

37:58

that Randy spoke English... fine.

38:00

He never needed the services of

38:02

a Havasupai interpreter. Yeah,

38:05

weird, right? In fact,

38:07

Randy's lawyer stated that his client

38:09

preferred to have all court proceedings

38:11

in English rather than Havasupai. Super

38:14

bizarre. But anyway, after

38:16

Randy accepted his plea, more details of

38:18

what had really happened between him and

38:20

Tamami on the day of the murder

38:22

were revealed. According to

38:25

the transcript from the hearing, Randy admitted

38:27

to approaching Tamami on a trail to

38:29

50-foot falls, one of the five waterfalls

38:31

in the reservation and the first you

38:33

encounter on your way to Havasupai Falls.

38:36

He offered to escort her. Using

38:38

his knowledge as a local, he misguided her

38:40

and cornered her in an area where they'd

38:43

be secluded from other people. Once

38:45

there, he said he grabbed her and held a knife

38:47

to her throat. After demanding

38:49

her money and belongings, Randy said he stabbed

38:51

Tamami four or five times in the neck

38:54

and dragged her by to the nearby creek

38:56

where he covered her with vegetation. In

38:59

his confession, he provided no explanation about

39:01

where the other 20-some stab wounds the

39:03

medical examiner found on Tamami's body came

39:06

from or how she ended up floating

39:08

in the tidal pool. The

39:10

magistrate presiding over the case accepted Randy's

39:13

guilty plea without forcing him to reveal

39:15

more details about the crime, which

39:17

I'm sure for Tamami's family was probably

39:20

both comforting and a bit frustrating. I mean,

39:23

clearly he kept the true nature of

39:25

the attack he inflicted on Tamami to

39:27

himself and the court didn't push him

39:29

to give more information, which might have

39:31

provided a bit more closure for Tamami's

39:33

family and friends. According

39:36

to Chris Khan's reporting for the Associated

39:38

Press and Larry Hendrix article for the

39:40

Arizona Daily Sun, during the plea hearing,

39:42

Tamami's father Tetsushi had an interpreter read

39:45

a statement he wrote about how the

39:47

crime had impacted his family and life.

39:50

He said, quote, work,

40:00

there is not a single day that goes

40:02

by without thinking of my daughter. Her

40:05

life was taken by someone on this soil,

40:07

far from home. If only

40:10

I could be there to take her place." On

40:14

June 19, 2008,

40:16

more than two years after Tamami's murder,

40:19

a federal judge sentenced Randy to life

40:21

in prison without the possibility of parole.

40:24

He was also ordered to pay several

40:26

thousand dollars in restitution to Tamami's relatives.

40:30

Speaking directly to Randy in court

40:32

during his sentencing, the judge remarked

40:34

that what Tamami had encountered was,

40:37

quote, the ugliest part of human

40:39

society, end quote. Today,

40:42

Randy is 36 years old and

40:44

remains behind bars at a federal

40:46

prison. The only insight

40:48

he's ever provided as to why he

40:50

committed this crime was because he admittedly

40:52

had a bad temper. In

40:55

the wake of Tamami's murder and Randy's

40:57

arrest, the Bureau of Indian Affairs took

40:59

steps to hire two more police officers

41:01

and add some more law enforcement presence

41:03

on the hiking trails that lead to

41:05

the reservation's waterfalls. But as

41:08

a rule of thumb, the sovereign

41:10

nation still says that all tourists

41:12

should consider their safety a personal

41:14

responsibility. Basically, you're

41:16

on your own. A

41:19

remarkably ironic fact that I pulled out

41:21

of the coverage on this story came

41:23

from Annette McGivney, a dedicated journalist who

41:25

did a phenomenal job covering this case

41:27

both in her articles for Backpacker magazine

41:29

and her book Pure Land. She

41:32

learned that Billy Westgigami, Randy's father,

41:34

visited the area where Tamami had

41:36

been found shortly after her body

41:38

was discovered. An

41:41

avid woodworker and deeply spiritual Havasupai native,

41:43

Billy whittled across and erected it at

41:45

the spot where Tamami was believed to

41:47

have taken her last breath. He

41:50

did that several months before he

41:52

ever learned that his own son

41:54

was the person responsible for

41:56

taking Tamami's life. Park

42:15

Predators is an Audio Chuck original

42:17

show. So, what do you

42:19

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42:22

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42:24

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speed, big reliability, and big savings you

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want, get Spectrum One. Just $49.99 a

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month for 12 months. Visit

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spectrum.com/bigdeal for full details. Offer subject

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to change. Valid for qualified residential

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customers. Only service not available in

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all areas. Restrictions apply. For more

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information, visit kingisland.com.