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Woman Sentenced for Thwarting Investigation by Cleaning Up Homicide Scene and Lying to FBI

U.S. Attorney’s Office May 17, 2010
  • District of Arizona (602) 514-7500

PHOENIX—Samantha Barrera, 23, of Laveen, Arizona, was sentenced to 14 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Mary H. Murguia. Barrera had pleaded guilty in December 2009 to Misprision of Felony for her involvement with thwarting a homicide investigation.

The facts showed that on or about August 2, 2008, on the Gila River Indian Reservation, Deanna Breckenridge and Anthony Trujillo, charged in a separate case, killed Dane Peters. The victim was a neighbor of Breckenridge. Breckenridge and Trujillo alleged that the victim showed up, uninvited, into the home of Breckenridge while Breckendrige was sleeping. This startled Breckenridge and Trujillo who ultimately beat the victim to death.

After the victim stopped moving, Breckenridge and Trujillo put the victim into a trash can and dragged the can into the desert and left it. The victim’s dead body was found several weeks later. Trujillo and Breckenridge pled guilty to Voluntary Manslaughter in a separate case and both were sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The investigation regarding the homicide showed that defendant Samantha Barrera (then the girlfriend of Trujillo and cousin to Breckenridge) was present during the beating and homicide. She admitted that she cleaned up a significant amount of the victim’s blood. She also lied to the FBI about what she saw and knew of the homicide.

During sentencing Judge Murguia remarked that “we will never know” if the victim would have lived if Barrera had timely reported the conduct of Breckenridge and Trujillo. She also told Barrera that witnesses of violent crime “must cooperate with law enforcement... must be truthful... and must be discouraged from cleaning up a crime scene.” Judge Murguia told Barrera that while Barrera did not commit the murder, “you literally have the blood on your hands from cleaning up what had occurred.”

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Gila River Police Department and the FBI. The prosecution was handled by Sharon Sexton, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix.

CASE NUMBER: CR-09-385-PHX-MHM
RELEASE NUMBER: 2010-099(Barrera)

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