Trial date affirmed in case of missing murdered man
A Yuma County Superior Court judge on Thursday affirmed the February trial date for one the two defendants charged in connection to the murder of a Yuma man who had been reported missing.
Erick Chavez has been charged with first-degree murder, premeditated first-degree murder in the death of 31-yearold Derek Runnion. Chavez remains in custody at the Yuma County jail on cash-only bonds totaling more than $150,000.
With a total of five cases filed against him, Chavez has also been charged with three counts of theft of means of transportation, aggravated assault of a police officer, possession of narcotic drugs for sale, possession of drug paraphernalia, hindering prosecution and kidnapping.
Attorney Bill Fox, of the Yuma County Legal Defender’s Office, said Chavez’s court-appointed attorney is requesting an opportunity to meet with the judge and prosecution about possibly delaying it a week or two.
Fox explained that Chavez’s court-appointed attorney is currently in another trial, which is expected to end before his client’s is set to begin, but either way he will still be ready to go if it can’t be delayed.
After a victim in the case, who addressed the court by telephone, brought up a plea offer that had been made to Chavez, prosecutor Megan Gallagher of the Yuma County Attorney’s Office said the offer was still available.
Gallagher said Chavez has not expressed any interest in accepting it because it only resolves the murder case against him, not the other four.
However, she continued, if the victim does not object, and Chavez gives his assurance that he will accept it, she would be more than willing to write a new one for a global resolution.
After hearing from both counsel, Superior Court Judge Roger Nelson scheduled the next hearing in the four remaining cases against Chavez for 8:30 a.m. May 11.
Chavez and Jonissa Jones were charged in connection to Runnion’s death in July 2021.
According to Yuma police, Runnion was last seen at 10:30 p.m. on March 22, 2021, when he left his apartment to go meet with someone who was going to fix his car. On April 1, Yuma police received information that led officers to Runnion’s remains, which were located in California, along with his burnt vehicle.
Runnion had been shot in the back, stabbed multiple times in the head, and his body burned.
Chavez and Jones had convinced Runnion to give them his knives and go someplace to do drugs with them prior to the murder.
Jones and Chavez also allegedly spread remains of Runnion’s body from Somerton to California. One of his family members is a witness against Chavez in an unrelated case as well.
Jones, who pled guilty to Runnion’s murder in a plea agreement, was sentenced to life in prison in May 2022.