FBI Phoenix
Brooke Brennan and Kevin Smith
(623) 466-1999
May 17, 2016

FBI Conducting Search in Connection with 2006 Murder

The FBI Phoenix Field Office, along with the FBI LA USERT (Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team, aka Dive Team), will be searching in and around a pond in McNary, Arizona (south of Pinetop). The search is in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Katherine Irene Tortice.

Tortice's body was found in a shallow grave near a pond in McNary, Arizona, on December 12, 2006, after she had been missing for approximately a month.

Tortice’s body was found in a shallow grave near a pond in McNary, Arizona on December 12, 2006, after she had been missing for about a month.

The FBI has information that evidence from the crime could be in the pond. The below maps highlight the search area.

In May 2016, FBI Phoenix, along with the FBI LA USERT (Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team, aka Dive Team), searched in and around a pond in McNary, Arizona (south of Pinetop) in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Katherine Irene Tortice.

In May 2016, FBI Phoenix, along with the FBI LA USERT (Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team, aka Dive Team), searched in and around a pond in McNary, Arizona (south of Pinetop) in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Katherine Irene Tortice.Below are photos from the search.

In May 2016, FBI Phoenix, along with the FBI LA USERT (Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team, aka Dive Team), searched in and around a pond in McNary, Arizona (south of Pinetop) in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Katherine Irene Tortice.

In May 2016, FBI Phoenix, along with the FBI LA USERT (Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team, aka Dive Team), searched in and around a pond in McNary, Arizona (south of Pinetop) in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Katherine Irene Tortice.

In May 2016, FBI Phoenix, along with the FBI LA USERT (Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team, aka Dive Team), searched in and around a pond in McNary, Arizona (south of Pinetop) in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Katherine Irene Tortice.

In May 2016, FBI Phoenix, along with the FBI LA USERT (Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team, aka Dive Team), searched in and around a pond in McNary, Arizona (south of Pinetop) in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Katherine Irene Tortice.

In May 2016, FBI Phoenix, along with the FBI LA USERT (Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team, aka Dive Team), searched in and around a pond in McNary, Arizona (south of Pinetop) in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Katherine Irene Tortice.

The FBI and the White Mountain Apache Tribal Police are asking for the public’s assistance in obtaining firsthand information on the murder of Tortice. If you have any information, please call FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.