Unsealed record sheds light on killing

Document: Boyfriend tried to scrub evidence

The man charged with the slaying of his 23-year-old girlfriend tried to clean up the evidence, authorities say, but they found blood in the trunk of the Tempe woman’s car and a bloody comforter in an apartment they once shared.

A court document previously sealed when Douglas Ray George, 27, was arrested on June 21 reveals new insights into a case that shocked police and residents.

Annovedwin Begay-Barakzai’s naked body had been dumped onto a quiet residential street nearly a week earlier and police struggled at first to identify her.

From the start, Tempe police said the level of violence inflicted on Begay- Barakzai’s body was excessive and unusual even in homicide cases. The document explains why: slash marks were found on her face and chest.

George, who has been indicted on a second-degree murder charge, attempted to clean up the apartment in the 900 block of East Baseline Road where police believe he stabbed Begay-Barakzai numerous times and beat her to death, according to the document.

The stab wounds, though numerous, were superficial, the document said. Begay-Barakzai died of blunt-force trauma from the beating. She suffered multiple rib fractures and a lacerated liver.

While police were interviewing George, they served a search warrant on the apartment, the document said.

“The apartment was cleaned out and appeared to have been cleaned up. There were no furnishings or clothing inside the apartment,’’ the document said.

But police seized the carpet and the carpet pad in the master bedroom, after noticing bleach stains on the carpet and “faded reddish colored stains’’ on the pad, the document said. Detectives also seized a blood-stained comforter found in the living room.

Inside the trunk of a car belonging to the woman, “several dried reddish colored stains were found. One of the stains tested positive for blood, and also a strand of hair was found in the spot,’’ the document said.

The document also said George was armed with a knife when he was arrested and “had several in his vehicle.’’

Begay-Barakzai and George had lived together for a month in the apartment, according to the document, and there had been previous reports of a violent relationship.

A week before her body was found on June 15 in the 1900 block of East Minton Drive at about 4:30 a.m., George had been arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.

George had been accused of pushing Begay-Barakzai, causing her face to hit a car door and asphalt in a parking lot when she fell, the report said.

Although Begay-Barakzai declined to prosecute, police still arrested George, the document said.

Begay-Barakzai’s body wasn’t identified for several days.

The big break in the case occurred on June 21, when a tipster who had viewed news coverage about the slaying called police and told them the victim’s name and her boyfriend’s name, the document said. George was arrested later that day.

“We are deeply devastated and emotionally exhausted,’’ Xylonia Begay of Albuquerque, who identified herself as Begay-Barakzai’s half-sister, wrote in an e-mail to The Republic’s online tip line.

Begay did not respond to three emails asking her for biographical information about her sister.

George is scheduled for his initial pretrial conference on Aug. 26.