Category: Court News

KINGMAN – Two Kingman residents who’ve reportedly confessed their involvement in the murder of a local woman and the burial of her body had separate status hearings in Mohave County Superior Court Monday, Feb. 24. Mark Baldonado, 32, and Carrie Vanover, 21, are charged with kidnapping, abandonment of a dead body and first-degree murder in the death of Vanover’s mother Shawn, 62. Court records reveal the couple admitted killing the elder Vanover in a child custody dispute. A probable cause affidavit said the elder Vanover already had custody of her five-year-old granddaughter and had threatened to try to gain custody…

BULLHEAD CITY – Authorities report two arrests and the seizure of more than $12 million in illegal drugs during an Interstate 40 traffic stop last Thursday, February 20. Spokeswoman Emily Fromelt said Bullhead City police department narcotics task force (MAGNET) detectives pulled over a tractor trailer just west of Kingman at 6:30 p.m. “With assistance from K9 Lorka with the Arizona Department of Public Safety and K9 Chase with the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, detectives located approximately 168 kilograms (370 pounds) of cocaine and 220 pounds of methamphetamine,” Fromelt said in a news release. “Both have a combined street value…

LAKE HAVASU CITY – Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) deputies were called to investigate a suspicious man inside an RV, where the property owners were not at home. A man matching the description, Ellis Dan Handley, 42 of Lake Havasu City, was detained nearby. Handley was physically restrained due to repeated requests to remove his hands from his pockets. It was found that Handley possessed a gun in his pocket, along with drug paraphernalia. A search of his backpack revealed 45 rounds of ammunition, 4.8 grams of methamphetamine, 1.2 grams of a brown tar-like substance, and four Adderall pills. Handley…

LAKE HAVASU CITY – Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) deputies were called to investigate a suspicious man inside an RV, where the property owners were not at home. A man matching the description, Ellis Dan Handley, 42 of Lake Havasu City, was detained nearby. Handley was physically restrained due to repeated requests to remove his hands from his pockets. It was found that Handley possessed a gun in his pocket, along with drug paraphernalia. A search of his backpack revealed 45 rounds of ammunition, 4.8 grams of methamphetamine, 1.2 grams of a brown tar-like substance, and four Adderall pills. Handley…

KINGMAN – A lengthy prison term awaits a Bullhead City woman who has entered a plea agreement in a double homicide. Lamya Bencheqroun, 28, pleaded guilty Friday to first degree murder in the death of Mona Carter, 51, and to kidnapping Darryl Ward, 22. Prosecutor Jaimye Ashley said both victims were interrogated and tortured before they were shot and killed in January, 2018. She said Carter was falsely suspected of being a narcotics snitch for law enforcement and that Ward was suspected of stealing heroin from Bencheqroun. Ashley said Ward was stripped naked, secured by duct tape and that his…