Park Predators - The Canyon

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

When a young Japanese tourist turns up dead inside one of the world’s most unique geologic formations in Arizona, a sacred Native American paradise becomes the epicenter of international media attention. The truth about who murdered Tomomi Hanamure is far darker than anyone knows. View source material and photos for this episode at: parkpredators.com/the-canyon Park Predators is an audiochuck production. Connect with us on social media:Instagram: @audiochuckTwitter: @audiochuckFacebook: /audiochuckllcTikTok: @audiochuck 

Hi, park enthusiasts. I'm your host, Delia D'Ambra, and the case I'm going to tell you about today takes place in the Grand Canyon, at a remote spot known for being a hidden paradise, Havasu Falls. This area technically sits outside of Grand Canyon National Park and is within the boundary of the Havasupai Native American Reservation. This story is a tragic tale of murder, and unlike some cases I've told you about on this show, it doesn't have a complicated narrative. There aren't multiple people involved or multiple theories about what might have really happened. It's the case of a cold-blooded killing perpetrated by a young man who was hell-bent on robbing and killing the most vulnerable person he thought he could find, a young woman hiking alone. He used his lifelong knowledge of the remote, rugged landscape he'd grown up in to try and cover up his crime, but eventually it all caught up to him.

The murder of Tomomi Hanamure in the summer of 2006 should be a case that sticks with you long after listening to this episode today. She was a young Japanese woman with so much life still ahead of her and so much left to give this world, but it was all cruelly ripped away from her far too soon. I also want you to remember this episode for another reason. Remember it as a warning to think twice whenever you encounter someone who says they're a local. Maybe you've bumped into someone like this on a trail or while getting directions traveling internationally. Let this episode be a reminder that sometimes a local may be the last person you want to encounter. This is Park Predators. On the morning of Tuesday, May 9th, 2006,

a housekeeper working inside a lodge on the outskirts of the remote Havasupai Reservation village of Supai opened the door to a guest's room only to see that the bed was still made and didn't look like it had been slept in. She thought that was kind of odd, so staff at the lodge checked the records and saw that a 34-year-old woman from Japan named Tomomi Hanamura was the registered guest for the room. But from the looks of things, it didn't appear as if she'd stayed the night there. Several of Tomomi's personal belongings, like her passport, were still inside the room, which indicated to staff members that she likely was planning on coming back at some point, but for some reason, just hadn't yet.

The source material isn't clear on when exactly the lodge's staff checked in on Tomomi's room again, but at some point that afternoon, her absence became noticeable and caused the employees at the lodge to grow concerned. Concerned enough that they contacted the Coconino County Sheriff's Office in Arizona to inform deputies that one of their guests was missing. The next day, May 10th, more than 40 Sheriff's Office deputies and search and rescue volunteers made their way to the remote village and started fanning out to look for Tomomi. At that point, the crews were worried that she'd fallen or become injured somewhere on the rocky two-mile trail leading from the village of Supai to Havasu Falls.

The trek wasn't the easiest to make, and because she was believed to be traveling alone, authorities figured it was possible she'd either gotten lost or needed medical attention and had no one with her to call for help. Along the hike to the falls, the lazy creek that bubbled through the small Native American village gradually got much swifter and eventually led to several tall, cascading waterfalls. A sense of urgency to find Tomomi before something worse happened to her in that environment was felt background on this geographic area for a second, it's important to know that if you ever visit that part of Havasupai Reservation, you must be committed to enduring intense heat, lots of hiking, and the inability to really reach the outside world. This spot is for all my off-the-gritters. You know who you are. Anyway, there is literally zero cell phone service in this remote town.

It's mostly just old buildings, horse hitching stations, a small school, campground, store, and the tourist lodge. It's one of the most remote spots in the Grand Canyon and has the reputation among visitors as being a destination only few dedicated people can make it to. There are no roads that lead there. You can only access it if you're walking, riding a horse, or if you contract a helicopter. As author Annette McGivney describes it in her book, Pure Land, when you start hiking from the Supai Trailhead at the dead end of Indian Road 18, you're roughly 80 miles from the nearest gas station. Once you get going, you'll meander for several miles down a steep descent into the Grand Canyon.

you get going, you'll meander for several miles down a steep descent into the Grand Canyon. You steadily lose about 3,000 feet in elevation before you arrive at the narrow opening of Havasu Canyon. The iconic blue-green color in the water of the creek and pools leads visitors through the canyon to the remote village and eventually to Havasu Falls. And it's the falls that are the main attraction for most everyone who visits the area. They're what had attracted Tomomi to the spot back in May 2006. Turquoise-colored water pours out roughly 100 feet, and it's a sight unlike anything else on Earth. The unique geologic rock formations around it can only be found in the Grand Canyon, and many people who have visited say the spot has got a heaven-on-earth kind of vibe.

Annette McGivney wrote that roughly 20,000 to 25,000 people visit the falls every year, just to catch a glimpse of the amazing landscape. Law enforcement figured Tomomi had to be somewhere between the small village where she checked into her room and the falls, but where exactly in that two-mile stretch was what they were having trouble figuring out. The month of May was when Supai was the busiest it would be all year, which turned out to be kind of a benefit for law enforcement investigators because there were hundreds of people in town, including lots of visitors that they could stop and interview to see if they'd seen Tomomi.

But each tourist the sheriff's office interviewed had little to no information to report. No one had remembered bumping into her on May 8th, the day before staff at the lodge had noticed she was missing. The only scrap of information investigators learned was that she was last seen walking in the direction of Havasu Falls Trail. In their hunt for clues, investigators checked a parking lot several miles back off Indian Road 18 near the start of the Supai Trailhead.

There, authorities located a rental car that came back as belonging to Tomomi. The LA Times and Arizona Daily Sun reported that she'd picked up the car in Los Angeles when she'd arrived in the U.S. the week before and then driven it to Arizona. Mark Schaefer reported for the Arizona Republic that Tomomi's travel records showed she'd driven around seven hours from Los Angeles to Flagstaff, Arizona, spent the night in a motel there, and

then took off for the trailhead about four o'clock in the morning on May 8th. She'd parked and hiked to the tourist lodge by that afternoon. When authorities found the rental car, it was locked, and a handful of her personal belongings were still inside of it, which told investigators she'd likely taken only what she needed to make the hike to Supai. Basically, she had enough with her to go to the famous falls, stay the night, and then leave. However, they clearly knew she'd not left the area entirely, since the car she'd rented was still where she'd parked it. Critical items that were missing from both the car

and Tomomi's room at the lodge were her cell phone, camera, credit cards, and cash. Finding the car wasn't surprising since everyone who traveled to the village had to leave their vehicles behind near the trailhead. The inability to drive to Supai was a known thing. The fact that Tomomi's overnight belongings had been found at the lodge confirmed she'd safely made it to town and checked into her room without any problems. But what happened to her after she'd left her room was the question police needed to

answer. The lodge and a public campground are the only two places in town where visitors to the canyon can stay. The rest of Supai Village that's not designated for visitors is described as clusters of dilapidated homes and makeshift buildings that belong to the local tribe members. According to officers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and an agent from the FBI, violent crime was an issue at the time of Tomomi's disappearance, which is why the tourist lodge she'd stayed at sits behind a 20-foot-high concrete wall and has an iron gate that staff members lock up every night. The threat of visitors' belongings being stolen is ever-present, so essentially the tourist lodge has become its

own compound, isolated from the rest of the town. And in 2006, there had been a spike in property crimes and assaults. Annette McGivney reported that the two stationed police officers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who worked in Supai, had been tracking a group of teenagers who were stealing tourist stuff so they could buy alcohol and drugs. Other, more serious crimes the Bureau of Police were investigating included fights between tribal members, usually involving a weapon or reports of child abuse. By and large, though, most of the crime in the area back in 2006,

and even still today, is directly tied to the fact that two-thirds of the residents live below the poverty line, struggle with substance use disorders, can't send their high school-aged children to schools close by, or have limited access to health care services. But a tourist vanishing without a trace was not something law enforcement in the reservation back in 06 encountered often. Very rarely had someone who was traveling internationally been abducted or murdered in that part of the reservation, which is why Tomomi's case stood out to everyone, and within just a day or so,

the story started to receive a lot of attention from the American and global press. Several news articles reported that she literally traveled across the world to visit the United States during the summer of 2006. She was from a town in a suburb of Tokyo, and as a treat to herself for her 34th birthday, she'd planned her solo trip to Havasu Falls to celebrate. She was no stranger to traveling alone internationally, and according to Annette McGivney's reporting for Backpacker Magazine

and John Daugherty's article for High Country News, Tomomi had actually visited spots in the Grand Canyon several times before 2006. She'd visited America a couple of times in her life and moved to the U.S. temporarily to attend a university in Mississippi to learn English at one point. But despite any hope that her general familiarity with the Grand Canyon or Southwest United States landscape might make it easier for her if she'd been forced to take shelter in a remote spot overnight or something like that, no sign of her turned up.

May 11th passed and then the 12th came and went, but there was still no progress in the investigation or any trace of Tomomi. Then on May 13th, 2006, five days after she'd last been seen checking into her room at the lodge, authorities learned a swimmer at one of the falls had come across the body of a young Asian woman. The woman's body was drifting in a large pool near the falls.

Local investigators and special agents with the FBI, who'd joined the search for Tomomi, showed up to the scene and quickly realized that after looking at the body, the woman had sustained multiple stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at 2.45 p.m., and within a short time, Tomomi's missing person investigation was over, and a murder investigation was officially underway. At that point, the FBI assumed the lead role in the investigation, now that it had been labeled a violent crime. Apparently, Bureau of Indian Affairs Police and the administration of the Havasupai tribe often allowed the FBI to come in and manage violent crime investigations

in situations like this, or at least they did in 2006. The United States attorney for that part of Arizona at the time told reporters that it had been five years since a homicide occurred in Supai. Annette McGivney reported for Backpacker magazine that after Tomomi's body was carried out of the area where it was found and an Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter flew her out of the canyon, the FBI immediately dispatched a dive team to search the pool she'd been found in for clues and potential forensic evidence. What, if anything, the team found was not disclosed to the public.

It's worth mentioning that the Los Angeles Times later reported that some of Tomomi's personal items had been located near her body, but what those items were is unclear. According to more reporting by Annette McGivney and eastvalley.com, the Coconino County Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy two days later on May 15th.

That examination revealed that the injuries the 34-year-old had endured were extremely brutal. Of the 29 stab wounds the ME noted on Tomomi's body, 22 of them were concentrated to her head and neck. The others were to her arms and a hand, which the medical examiner noted was likely due to trying to fight off her attacker. The weapon the killer used was determined to be about 3 to 4 inches long and at least 1 inch wide.

In addition to the defensive wounds, Tomomi also had a punctured lung and chipped skull from where her killer had landed hard blows during the assault. In addition to observing her injuries, the ME also collected fingerprints, fingernail clippings, and a sexual assault kit. According to Annette McGivney's article for Backpacker I mentioned earlier, the ME didn't find any obvious signs that there had been a sexual assault, but just in case, he collected a kit anyway. The autopsy report went on to explain that when Tomomi was found, she was wearing brown boots, a brown short-sleeve shirt, a dark blue short-sleeve

shirt, green shorts, all of which had blood on them, a bra, underwear, and socks. The report specifically said she was wearing two pairs of socks on each foot, which I imagine she'd probably done to prevent getting blisters while hiking. I don't know for sure, but I can say that I've also worn multiple socks while hiking to help cushion my feet and my hiking boots. Positively identifying Tomomi wasn't difficult because she had two tattoos which were unique. One was a Japanese symbol inked on her left foot that translated to the word Hana, the first part of her last name,

which means flower. And the other tattoo was a heart on her lower abdomen. Chris Kahn reported for the Associated Press that her immediate and extended family in Japan knew how much she loved visiting the United States and traveling alone. The plan, at least in her family's mind, was for her to experience all the scenic locations in North America she wanted to visit, then return home to Japan to help care for her father after he retired and got older. When news of the murder made it to her family in Japan, they were understandably devastated. Her father, Tetsushi, declined to speak with journalists from the United States or Japan once he learned about what had happened to his daughter. Via the Japanese consulate in America, he said that the loss had caused him to be, quote,

very, very distraught, end quote. After the murder, the Havasupai Tribal Council, with the support of law enforcement, made the decision to ban all journalists from coming into the reservation to continue covering the story. Annette McGivney wrote in her book, Pure Land, that the council viewed the media attention the story was getting as a negative thing that would hurt the $2 million tourism industry in the region. So the council enacted a strict no-media policy, which everyone in the journalism community was forced to take very seriously. Trespassing on the soil of a sovereign Native American nation is a big no-no. As a matter of fact, John Doherty reported for High Country News that the Bureau of Indian Affairs took this matter so seriously, it issued a formal statement on its website saying if media representatives violated

the policy, they would, quote, be immediately detained by BIA police, escorted off the reservation, and film recordings and notes will be subject to confiscation, end quote. Now, the Japanese media outlets were furious with the tribe's policy. News crews and journalists from Japan had traveled thousands of miles to Arizona and temporarily camped outside the boundary of the reservation. Some of them had even camped out near the Coconino County Sheriff's Office. Annette McGivney and the Arizona Republic

reported that journalists from Japan openly expressed in their coverage of the murder that they did not think the United States government was doing enough to investigate Tomomi's death. Their outrage was palpable, which only ratcheted up the pressure on the FBI to identify a killer and make an arrest. Simultaneously, tensions inside the Havasupai Reservation among the locals were boiling over.

Pretty much immediately after the body was found, a handful of locals sent out a very clear message to everyone who called Supai home. Do not help law enforcement or else. Annette McGivney reported that in the weeks following the murder, time and time again, the FBI agent in charge of the homicide investigation was met with closed doors and suit by. Residents from the village were noticeably uncooperative, and those who did speak with investigators

later suffered retaliation from other members in the tribe. There were reports of people who spoke with police later enduring harassment and beatings at the hands of their neighbors. A reason for this was the Havasupai's lifelong deep distrust of the American government, in particular, lawmen and women who historically had never treated the nation humanely or fairly. I won't go into too much of the lengthy history, but I think it's important for you all to know that basically in 1919,

when Grand Canyon National Park was established, the Havasupai people were cruelly booted from their homeland and forced into the reservation under terrible conditions. More than a century of trying to survive in harsh conditions with zero help and only threats from the U.S. government, had left a deep-seated rift between the tribe and members of law enforcement from outside the reservation. Despite most members of the tribe refusing to cooperate with the FBI, though,

one potential suspect did surface that investigators were forced to take a close look at. According to Annette McGivney's reporting, an Irish man named Neil, who'd been living in Supai for a few weeks leading up to the murder, to take a close look at. According to Annette McGivney's reporting, an Irish man named Neil, who'd been living in Supai for a few weeks leading up to the murder, was a person who investigators felt like checked several boxes as a potential person of interest. For one thing, Neil was an outsider to the tribe

and had a head of bright red hair, which made him stand out compared to everyone else in the area. At least one witness living in the village told investigators that they'd seen Neil in the town's cafe on May 8th talking with Tomomi. This account turned out to be true and was later corroborated by other people. That alone made Neil interesting to the authorities. When the FBI investigated him a little more, they learned that he was a bit of an odd duck

and had been living in the village for a few weeks prior to Tomomi's murder. He often slept on the ground outside of town near the creek or couch surfed between tribal members' homes while partying. And a few locals told the authorities that Neil had expressed a bunch of grandiose ideas

about how the tribe could and should rightfully claim their homeland back from the U.S. government. But what piqued the FBI's interest, though, were allegations that Neal had made some aggressive sexual advances on a woman from the tribe. After probing further regarding those reports, the FBI learned that Neal had crossed the line with a woman during a sweat lodge gathering

on the night of May 9th, and he'd been severely beaten for that. He was found completely nude, suffering from head trauma along the village's creek, and immediately evacuated via helicopter on May 10th. So that didn't necessarily mean Neal wasn't the killer, because we know that he was alive and well on May 8th and 9th. But the more the FBI agent in charge of the murder case learned, the less and less he suspected Neal of Tomomi's murder.

None of the source material really goes into detail as to how the feds cleared Neal. All I could find was Annette McGivney's coverage that states the FBI told her that Neal was interviewed but eventually dismissed as a suspect. But while they'd been looking into him, though, agents had also learned a lot of valuable information about other solo female hikers in the canyon. Information that struck a big chord. Annette McGivney reported in her piece for Backpacker magazine that while the FBI was conducting its investigation, reports slowly started coming in from other women who said they'd been hiking alone or staying in the Supai campground around the spring and summer of 2006, and they'd been violently attacked.

An FBI agent told McGivney, quote, these all happened within a few months before or after the murder. They wanted me to know because they thought it might help us find the killer, end quote. Apparently, all the incidents that investigators were hearing about had initially gone unreported when they first happened. It was only in the wake of Tomomi's murder that these victims of these other assaults

had decided to come forward. In most of the cases, the victims reported that young men from the tribe verbally harassed them with sexually intimidating comments while they'd been hiking. A lot of the times this happened in secluded spots along the trail, but in at least two cases, young men had just straight up grabbed victims and attempted to pull them off the trail. Thankfully, the women from those assaults managed to ward off their attackers and get away.

Thankfully, the women from those assaults managed to ward off their attackers and get away. But no matter how hard the FBI tried to identify whoever these local young men were who were being accused of this behavior, they got nowhere. Investigators chased down and followed up dozens of leads, but nothing seemed to pan out. At least, that's how it appeared to the public. After that, the case went quiet for weeks. In July, the FBI offered up a $5,000 reward for information, but again, nothing or no one compelling enough came forward. Because the press was unable to report on the story

due to the Tribal Council's standing media ban, many people just kind of forgot about Tomomi for a while. That is until seven months later, when December 5th, 2006 rolled around. people just kind of forgot about Tomomi for a while. That is until seven months later, when December 5th, 2006 rolled around. That day, a federal grand jury formally indicted an 18-year-old Havasupai member named Randy Redtail Weskigami. The indictment charged him with murder, kidnapping, and robbery. Up until that point, Randy's name had never been publicly mentioned in relation to the crime. However, according to reporting by the Los Angeles Times and Annette McGivney, he'd been in tribal custody for unrelated assault charges since shortly after Tomomi disappeared.

John Dougherty reported for High Country News that in February 2006, Randy had been released from the juvenile justice system. Then shortly thereafter, he was picked up by reservation police officers for assaulting a fellow tribe member. The source material doesn't explain exactly why, but for some reason, Randy wasn't prosecuted for that assault, and he was yet again released from custody. Three months later is when Tomomi was murdered. Then at some point shortly after she was killed, Randy was picked up again for an unrelated case of assault. By December, though, the FBI considered him their prime suspect for her murder.

And according to the lead FBI special agent on the case, Randy had come onto investigators' radar not long after the crime. However, officials stopped short of saying how they came to suspect Randy, nor would they comment about if a murder weapon had been located. After being indicted, Randy was transferred out of Havasupai custody and into the custody of the U.S. Marshals to await his first appearance in an Arizona courtroom. His case documents detailed how prosecutors were prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Randy was Tomomi's killer. The authorities believed that Randy had ambushed her while she was hiking alone on her way to Havasu Falls.

His end goal was to rob her of her cell phone, camera, credit cards, and cash. The indictment specifically said that her death was not just a result of being attacked, but in fact a premeditated killing Randy had intended to carry out. Paul Charlton, the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, told the Los Angeles Times, quote, The facts underlying the indictment reflect the last moments of a young lady who came from Japan to enjoy the beauty of this country and who, instead, met a senseless and tragic end to her life. Our thoughts remain with Ms. Hanamir's family during this difficult time, end quote. A week after being indicted, Randy was assigned a public defender who immediately

filed a unique motion. It had to do with a small but very important language barrier issue. Randy was Native American, and according to what his mother told the court, the only language he spoke fluently or efficiently was Havasupai. So his lawyer argued before a mandatory detention hearing that because English was not Randy's first language, he needed to have someone interpret for him during all of his court proceedings. His attorney asked the federal magistrate to continue Randy's detention hearing until the court could find a suitable Havasupai interpreter.

But according to court documents, the federal magistrate was like, no, we're going to get this thing taken care of now. And it didn't take long before an approved interpreter was found and patched in via telephone, which meant Randy's December 12th detention hearing got underway without much of a delay. At the conclusion of that hearing, the magistrate denied him a pre-trial release and deemed him a danger and a flight risk. A week later, on December 20th, Randy and his lawyer and a court-appointed interpreter appeared in court again for his first appearance, and he entered a plea of not guilty. The case was headed to trial.

While all that was happening, news of Randy's arrest and indictment got out to the public. Once word circulated that a local Havasupai teenager was alleged to be behind Tomomi's brutal murder, the floodgates from the press opened. Publications started doing deep dives into Randy's background and learned a lot about the young man who was now facing federal murder charges. And none of it was good. The picture of Randy Weskigami's life by the time he turned 18 was not pretty. According to multiple news reports, he'd dropped out of high school and by the time he was a teenager, he'd earned a reputation of being a delinquent.

Prior to that, though, he'd been in trouble at schools in the reservation for everything from verbal sexual abuse to assaulting other students to attacking teachers. Larry Hendricks reported for the Arizona Daily Sun that by the time Randy turned 18, he'd been through more than eight drug and alcohol treatment programs. He'd resumed using after each. According to law enforcement officials and Annette McGivney's reporting, from as young as middle school age, Randy had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. In his late teen years, he'd developed an addiction to methamphetamine. He'd spent a lot of time in and out of juvenile detention centers in Arizona, and on several occasions when he wasn't in one of those facilities, Randy was in foster care.

Annette McGivney reported that after Randy's parents divorced when he was five, they'd fought bitterly in tribal court over things like custody, child support, and restraining orders. Randy had two other siblings who were also caught up in these legal battles. Leading up to Tomomi's murder on May 8, 2006, Randy had been bouncing around living wherever he could in Supai. One Bureau of Indian Affairs officer told author Annette McGivney, quote,

his whole life, he was a loner, end quote. Normally, guys Randy's age hung out in groups together in the village. Law enforcement said many young men like him who didn't leave the tribe or go off to school elsewhere in the country usually found work helping their families bring tourists to and from the village or drive mules through the canyon picking up and delivering goods. But not Randy.

He had no friends or buddies he hung out with. He was truly on his own. Despite Randy's lengthy history of bad behavior, confirmed criminal activity, and a strong case against him for murder, his father, Billy Weskigami, told Annette McGivney that his son was not a murderer. Billy openly admitted that Randy was a thief and struggled with substance use, but he claimed that Randy would never have gone as far as killing someone

unless he was under the influence of meth. Havasupai tribal leadership's reaction to Randy's indictment and arrest was a deep sense of shock and surprise. The tribe's chairman penned a formal letter detailing how unexpected Randy's arrest was, as well as the fact that a murder had occurred in the reservation to begin with. On September 18, 2007, what was expected to be a long ordeal with a jury trial ended abruptly when Randy decided to take a plea deal for second-degree murder. According to court documents, the prosecution decided to downgrade his first-degree murder charge to second-degree murder and toss out the kidnapping and robbery charges.

However, the court still had the right to consider those crimes when it came to sentencing Randy. Interestingly, in the transcript for the plea hearing, Randy's lawyer revealed to the court still had the right to consider those crimes when it came to sentencing Randy. Interestingly, in the transcript for the plea hearing, Randy's lawyer revealed to the court that Randy spoke English just fine. He'd never needed the services of a Havasupai interpreter. Yeah, weird, right? In fact, Randy's lawyer stated that his client preferred to have all court proceedings in English rather than Havasupai. But anyway, after he accepted his plea, more details of what had really happened between him and Tomomi on the day of the murder were revealed. According to the transcript from the hearing, Randy admitted to approaching her on the trail to Fifty Foot Falls, one of the five waterfalls

in the reservation, and the first you encounter on your way to Havasu Falls. He'd offered to escort her. Using his knowledge as a local, he misguided her and cornered her in an area where they'd be secluded from other people. Once there, he said he grabbed her and held a knife to her throat. After demanding her money and belongings, Randy said he stabbed her four or five times in the neck and dragged her body to the nearby creek where he covered her with vegetation. In his confession, Randy provided no explanation about where the other 20-some stab wounds the medical examiner found on Tomomi's body came from or how she ended up floating in the tidal pool. The magistrate over the case accepted Randy's guilty plea without

forcing him to reveal more details about the crime, which I'm sure for Tomomi's family was probably both comforting and a bit frustrating. Like, the things Randy admitted to in his plea deal weren't the whole story of what had happened. I mean, clearly he kept the true nature of the attack he inflicted to himself, and the court didn't push him to give more information, which might've provided a bit more closure for the family. According to Chris Kahn's reporting for the Associated Press and Larry Hendricks' article for the Arizona Daily Sun,

during the plea hearing, Tomomi's father had an interpreter read a statement he wrote about how the crime had impacted his family and life. He said, quote, As for my family and me, the ruling makes us feel as if we have just entered a tunnel with no end in sight. Although I am swamped with daily work,

there is not a single day that goes by without thinking of my daughter. Her life was taken by someone on this soil, far from home. If only I could be there to take her place, end quote. On June 19th, 2008, more than two years after the murder, a federal judge sentenced Randy to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was also ordered to pay several thousand dollars in restitution. Speaking directly to Randy in court during his

sentencing, the judge remarked that what Tomomi had encountered was, quote, the ugliest part of human society, end quote. Today, Randy is 36 years old and remains behind bars at a federal prison. The only insight he's ever provided as to why he committed this crime was because he admittedly had a bad temper. In the wake of the murder and Randy's arrest, the Bureau of Indian Affairs took steps to hire two more police officers and add some more law enforcement presence on the hiking trails that lead to the reservation's waterfalls. But as a rule of thumb, the sovereign nation still says that all tourists should consider their safety a personal responsibility. Basically, you're on your own.

A remarkably ironic fact that I pulled out of the coverage on this story came from Annette McGivney, a dedicated journalist who did a phenomenal job covering this case, both in her articles for Backpacker Magazine and her book, Pure Land. She learned that Billy West Kagami, Randy's father, visited the area where Tomomi had been found shortly after her body was discovered. An avid woodworker and deeply spiritual Havasupai native, Billy whittled a cross and erected it at the spot. He did that several months before he ever learned that his own son was the person responsible for taking Tomomi's life. Park Predators is an Audiochuck original show. So, what do you think, Chuck?

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