Woman arrested in homicide, armed robbery of Navajo man
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s detectives have arrested a 35-year-old woman who they said killed a Church Rock man who was in the area for work and stole his car.
Mary Helen Gurule was arrested on Monday and charged with murder, armed robbery and tampering with evidence. It’s unclear who her attorney will be.
A warrant had been out for her arrest in the case since late December but she wasn’t picked up until Sunday afternoon when someone reported she was using drugs and “pushed the calling party with her chest.”
The man she is accused of killing, 53-year-old Harris Yazzie Begay, had been reported missing by his wife on Oct. 29. Begay’s body was found off West Central, near 122nd, on Nov. 7.
When Begay’s wife reported him missing to the Navajo Police Department she said the last time she spoke with him was two days earlier when he was leaving his job at a construction company and heading to the Love’s truck stop on West Central. She said that he would typically sleep there in his car while he was in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho for work.
Begay’s car — painted and modified — was found Oct. 31 when deputies were conducting a welfare check. They arrested Paul Chavez, 37, who had been driving the car and charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm and being in possession of drug paraphernalia. Those charges were later dismissed because the state was unable to prove them beyond a reasonable doubt.
And, deputies said, a gun that was found in a car Chavez had been driving about a week earlier was determined to have been the one used to shoot Begay.
Chavez was arrested again Dec. 20, this time on an outstanding warrant.
When deputies interviewed him, he said that he had run into Gurule near the Walgreens on Central and Coors on Oct. 27, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Chavez said they hung out for about an hour and then Gurule left.
When she returned she picked him up, this time driving Begay’s car, according to the complaint.
“When he questioned Mary about where she got the vehicle, she stated she had ‘ganked’ it from a guy,” the detective wrote. “In affiant’s experience, the word ‘ganked’ meant to have stolen/taken the vehicle, possibly by force or threatened use of force.”
Detectives reviewed videos from a surveillance camera trailer and stores and saw Gurule and Chavez meet up and then Begay’s car enter the parking lot and Gurule get in the passenger seat and drive off, according to the complaint.
Begay’s car returned less than 20 minutes later and Chavez could be seen getting in the passenger side. Due to Chavez being on video at Smith’s the whole time the detective determined he wasn’t the one who killed Begay.
“This information suggests Begay picked up Gurule and drove to the area of 11354 Central Ave SW, and within one to two minutes of arrival, Gurule shot Begay and took his Chevrolet Malibu by use of deadly force...,” the detective wrote in the complaint. “Affiant was unable to locate any information suggesting Begay previously knew Gurule. In affiant’s experience, the short timeline of events suggested Gurule intended to murder Begay for the purpose of taking his vehicle using deadly force.”