Category: News

A Lake Havasu City woman will be convicted in a second arson case after entering a plea agreement May 23. Vanessa Byrd, 42, was first charged with arson of a residential structure for a February, 2016 fire that caused more than $10,000 in damage to a residence. Prosecutor James Schoppmann said that arriving firefighters heard Byrd making nonsensical statements about butterflies and flowers. She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of criminal damage and was placed on probation in April, 2017. Three months later Byrd was spotted with a five gallon gas can running from a burning RV in the…

The Mohave County Sheriff’s office reports the arrest of a Williams resident for sex offenses committed 15 years ago in Kingman. Agency spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said Thomas Wayne Nordyke, 69, was arrested Tuesday night and booked into the Coconino County jail in Flagstaff. Mortensen said the Mohave County investigation began on April 12 following contact with a detective in the Coconino County Sheriff’s office. “During the course of their investigation on an unrelated case, it was revealed that an alleged sex offense had occurred in Mohave County in 2004 involving Nordyke and a female victim,” Mortensen said. “The offense was alleged…