Shiprock Man Sentenced for Murder in Navajo Nation Home Break-in

ALBUQUERQUE - A Shiprock man was sentenced to 210 months in prison for breaking into a Navajo Nation residence and killing a man who tried to stop him from attacking another resident.

According to court documents, in the early morning hours of June 27, 2025, Armondo Paul, 25, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, went to a home in Shiprock, New Mexico. Paul shut off the electricity to the home, kicked open the back door, and then assaulted one of the occupants. When a second occupant, John Doe, attempted to intervene on behalf of the first occupant, Paul stabbed Doe in the neck with a kitchen knife that Paul brought from his own home. John Doe fled his home and died in his own driveway.

Paul pleaded guilty to Second-Degree Murder in Indian Country. Upon his release from prison, Paul will be subject to five years of supervised release, which will include mandatory mental-health treatment. Paul must also make restitution in the amount of $5,471.³⁷ to the Crime Victims Reparation Commission for Doe's funeral costs and in a yet-undetermined amount to Doe's family for costs associated with his crime, to include costs expended for transportation to court hearings and counseling costs.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Justin A. Garris, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement today.

The Farmington Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Nation Police Department and Department of Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary C. Jones is prosecuting the case.