NC Sez Reminds: Make sure and keep up on this story by visiting The Wacky, Psychotic World of Shawna Forde
Three indicted in Arivaca deaths
Murder, robbery among charges in home invasion
Jason Eugene Bush, 34, is escorted from a Superior Court room Tuesday by Pima County sheriff's deputies after an extradition hearing for him was postponed until Tuesday.
Three people suspected of killing a 9-year-old Arivaca girl and her father late last month have been indicted on first-degree murder, robbery and other felony charges.
Shawna Forde, 41, Albert Robert Gaxiola, 42, and Jason Eugene Bush, 34, will be arraigned in Pima County Superior Court on Monday in the slayings of Brisenia Flores, Raul Junior Flores, 29, and the attempted murder of Gina Marie Gonzalez.
In addition to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, the three are facing burglary, aggravated assault and robbery charges in the May 30 incident.
Although Rick Unklesbay, chief trial counsel for the Pima County Attorney’s Office, wouldn’t comment on the specific case, he said prosecutors have until 60 days after the arraignment to announce if they intend to seek the death penalty.
Gonzalez called 911 in the middle of the night on May 30 to report that several men and a woman claiming to be police officers forced their way into her home. She told authorities that one of the men killed her husband and daughter, and wounded her in the leg.
Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said at the time that Raul Flores was a suspected drug dealer, and the three suspects targeted the house with the intention of stealing money and drugs.
Forde’s family members have said Forde told her brother and her mother earlier this year that she planned to start attacking drug traffickers on the Arizona-Mexico border and robbing them. Forde, a Washington state resident, was allegedly going to use the proceeds to fund a group called Minutemen American Defense to fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Authorities believe that Gaxiola, an Arivaca resident, was used by Forde and Bush to gather intelligence on drug traffickers.
Bush made a brief appearance Tuesday in Pima County Superior Court for an extradition hearing, which was postponed until Tuesday.
Bush, another member of Minutemen American Defense, was charged on June 12 in the 1997 stabbing death of a sleeping, homeless Hispanic man in Wenatchee, Wash.
On StarNet: Read the online edition of this story at azstarnet.com/crime to hear the audio from the 911 call.
Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com.
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