Category: Court News

KINGMAN – A lover’s quarrel at a Kingman motel resulted in the death of one Peach Springs woman and the arrest of another on a second-degree murder charge. Police responded to a report of an unresponsive woman at the Days Inn East just before 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 9. The suspect, Leanne Watahomigie, 34, was performing CPR on her girlfriend Nellita Smith, 38, when officers arrived at room #119 on the property at 3881 E. Andy Devine Avenue. “Nellita was determined to be deceased and she was found to have a contusion to her right eye, as well as…

LAKE HAVASU CITY – Over the past several months, detectives from the Lake Havasu City Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit, which is part of the Mohave Area General Narcotics Enforcement Team (MAGNET), have been conducting an investigation into the sale of illegal drugs at a residence in the 2300 block of Alpine Drive in Lake Havasu City. On July 6, at approximately 9:50 a.m. the Lake Havasu City Police Department’s SWAT team, with the assistance of the Special Investigations Unit, served a search warrant at that residence.  During the search, Detectives located a usable amount of methamphetamine and numerous items…

KINGMAN- A local judge has accepted a plea agreement and imposed the 12.5-year prison term mandated in the case of a Kingman man who drew police gunfire after stealing a big rig in May. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert sent 27-year-old Michael Lapeer to the Arizona Department of Corrections Wednesday. Authorities said Lapeer was able to start a Mohave County-owned Humvee that had been stored at a yard along Andy Devine Avenue. Lapeer admitted driving the vehicle through a chain link gate in the fenced yard and into the streets of Kingman before police quickly responded. A bizarre…

KINGMAN – The Mohave County Attorney’s Office is declining prosecution of the Alaska man whose vehicle crossed the center line of Highway 95 resulting in a crash and the deaths of a mother and daughter from Lake Havasu City. Maria Ramirez-Rangle, 38, and her ten-year-old daughter were dead at the scene of the January 19 head-on collision at Fall Springs Wash. An adult male and children 5 and 14 years of age who occupied the Infinity SUV driven by Ramirez-Rangle were hospitalized for treatment of their injuries. The driver of the Range Rover SUV that was southbound when it crossed…

KINGMAN – A drug dealer from Bullhead City will be going to the Arizona Department of Corrections if a Kingman judge approves a plea agreement entered Thursday. Gregory Murphy, 60, pleaded guilty to possession of dangerous drugs for sale in separate cases. Prosecutor David Wayt said officers seized 14 grams of methamphetamine during a November 2016 search of a Bullhead City home in the 2300 block of Mohave Ridge Avenue. Wayt said Murphy admitted buying an ounce of meth two or three times each week, selling most for profit to fund personal use of the rest. Wayt said another two…