Derick Lee Myron
Introduction
Derick Lee Myron, a 46-year-old Tuba City, Arizona, man and enrolled member of the Hopi Tribe, was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years for a 2024 shooting on the Navajo Nation that killed one unarmed person and seriously injured two others . A federal jury convicted Myron on February 6, 2026, of eleven charges, including second-degree murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, robbery, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The life term was imposed by U.S. District Judge Michael T. Liburdi in July 2026, capping a case investigated by the FBI’s Flagstaff office and the Navajo Police Department.
Background Information
Violent crime on the Navajo Nation falls under federal jurisdiction, and Myron’s case was investigated by the FBI Phoenix Division’s Flagstaff office jointly with the Navajo Police Department, with assistance from the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Flagstaff Police Department, and the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office . Myron did not simply flee the April 2024 crime scene and stay gone: according to the Justice Department, he spent the following two days concealing the firearm he had used and evading arrest by hiding in the Moenkopi Wash, the wash area near Tuba City and the Hopi villages of Moenkopi. The pursuit ended only when investigators took him into custody.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted and sentenced. Myron was found guilty on eleven federal charges by a jury in February 2026 and sentenced to life imprisonment plus 40 years.
On April 29, 2024, Myron shot and killed an unarmed victim and shot and seriously injured two other people on the Navajo Nation . He then stole a truck, ran over the victim he had just killed, and fled the crime scene. Over the next two days, he hid the firearm he had used and evaded arrest while hiding in the Moenkopi Wash, before investigators caught up with him.
The case went to a jury in February 2026. On February 6, 2026, that jury found Myron guilty of eleven charges, among them second-degree murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, robbery, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence . The murder count covered the unarmed victim he shot and then ran over with the stolen truck; the remaining counts accounted for the two other people he shot and seriously injured and the actions he took to cover up the attack and escape capture.
At sentencing in July 2026, Judge Liburdi imposed a sentence of life in prison plus 40 years — effectively guaranteeing that Myron, 46 at sentencing, will die in federal custody.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The Justice Department framed the sentence as the just outcome of a brutal and drawn-out attack. U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine said, “Justice cannot restore a life lost to senseless violence, but it is always worth pursuing. My thoughts are with the victims of this terrible crime and their families,” adding, “I am thankful for the collaborative efforts of our law enforcement partners, whose tireless work led to the conviction and sentence in this case” .
FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Day said, “A crime like this is heartbreaking for each victim and their families and there is no question that this sentence is just.” She added, “The FBI takes its responsibility for investigating the most egregious crimes in Indian Country very seriously and we remain committed to aggressively pursuing justice for victims of these horrific crimes.”
Current Status
Myron is serving a sentence of life imprisonment plus 40 years imposed by Judge Michael T. Liburdi in July 2026 . The case number is CR-24-08050-PCT-MTL, release number 2026-124_Myron. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Genevieve A. Ozark (Phoenix) and Dimitra H. Sampson (Flagstaff). There is no appeal outcome in the public record and no parole in the federal system; a life term means the custody question is settled for the rest of his life.
Impact on Their Career/Life
At 46, Myron’s life is now defined by a sentence that will outlast him: life imprisonment plus four more decades, imposed for a shooting that killed one person, wounded two more, and ended with him driving over the person he had killed . The two-day flight through the Moenkopi Wash and the concealed firearm became aggravating chapters of the same record. For the victims’ families on the Navajo Nation, the sentence is the endpoint the FBI and tribal police spent nearly two years building toward; for Myron, a Hopi tribal member convicted of terrorizing a neighboring reservation’s residents, there is no path back.
Sources
- DOJ press release, “Tuba City Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Robbery,” U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, July 22, 2026 source