Ute Man Charged With Murder of Child on Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation

DURANGO - The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announces that Jeremiah Hight, 23, of Towaoc, Colorado, was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of second-degree murder of a child in Indian Country, and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Hight was previously charged by a criminal complaint authorized by Magistrate Judge James Candelaria on December 19, 2024. Hight was arrested on the Navajo Reservation on December 24, 2024, and made an initial appearance in the District of Arizona on December 26, 2024. Hight is currently being transported to the District of Colorado.

According to the complaint and indictment, in the early hours of December 11, 2024, Hight fired a rifle twenty-four times into a residence, killing a seven-year-old member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Towaoc, Colorado, on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. The investigation is ongoing.

The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey K. Graves, R. Josh Player, and Lisa Franceware.

Case Number: 25-cr-0003-GPG