AZ - FBI seeks info on murder of Ohio brothers Matthew and Phillip Reagan, Sawmill, 21 March 2020
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Wow. What evidence could the FBI have? Bullet casing(s), foot prints in mud, possible tire tracks, or horse hoof prints?
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Heartbreaking story. I bet the killer was just doing it for no reason. Just because..saw 2 guys walking and had the chance to take them out. 
Heartbreaking story. I bet the killer was just doing it for no reason. Just because..saw 2 guys walking and had the chance to take them out.
This horrible crime during the Covid lock downs hits close to home. My car broke down in rural New Mexico "Indian Country" during March 2020. We were obviously not from that area and Covid news was getting worse.
Local Native Americans and New Mexico Hispanos offered us so much assistance that I had to lower the hood of the car. People gave us rides for groceries and to purchase car parts (6-8 miles walk each way). All refused money for the rides.
One man bought us dinner. Another returned to the reservation for tools. A Native offered to have her adult son return to check on us. A Hispano offered to unlock a rural chapel for prayers.
But.... there are contrasts to my experience. A friend from church has hiked and camped in remote parts of the west, including reservations all his adult life.
Though he has had many good experiences of reservations, he told me that after to two very bad experiences recently, he will never camp on them again. Day hikes are fine.
Both instances involved remote areas, him obviously not being local, young Native men and meth usage. Then factor in the potential assailants knowing that they could do what ever they wanted and probably not face punishment. The totality was a very bad situation.
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They are offering 10K reward, which is good. But.... it needs to be offered in the right way. That can make a huge difference.
There was a murder case in SC where the offered reward generate little interest. The suspect lived in a very similar area as the Navajo Reservation: A black township in rural South Carolina where family loyalties were strong and a distrust of outsiders ran deep.
The family then hired a very skilled private investigator. The investigator was black and was also from rural South Carolina. He knew the people, the culture, and the way of life.
First thing he said was to give him the reward money in cash (20K in twenties). Then, he went door to door in the township.
He talked football, the weather, church, the murder- and the reward. He then showed the locals the bag of money (look- dont touch!). With in days the same community that had "oh hummed" the billboards had the phone ringing off the hook.
There was a murder case in SC where the offered reward generate little interest. The suspect lived in a very similar area as the Navajo Reservation: A black township in rural South Carolina where family loyalties were strong and a distrust of outsiders ran deep.
The family then hired a very skilled private investigator. The investigator was black and was also from rural South Carolina. He knew the people, the culture, and the way of life.
First thing he said was to give him the reward money in cash (20K in twenties). Then, he went door to door in the township.
He talked football, the weather, church, the murder- and the reward. He then showed the locals the bag of money (look- dont touch!). With in days the same community that had "oh hummed" the billboards had the phone ringing off the hook.
The FBI needs to realize that unless it is presented in a meaningful way in Sawmill, it will do little good. Presenting it in a meaningful way in Sawmill is going to take a rural Navajo- or two. Safety never hurts.
Oh, I expect LE knows this, and knows who to talk to.
Not likely to be simple or easy to reach charges, let alone trial or conviction.
Could a moderator add the relevant date to the thread title? Case is over a year old.
The FBI in the West knows the West.
jmho ymmv lrr
I wish I had your confidence. The fact that the case is over a year old may indicate that they don't truly know who to talk to.
Rural, insular, communities where ethnic and family loyalties back generations can be very difficult to penetrate.
In the end, blood is thicker than water- and can also be thicker than a badly presented (and really not that large) reward being advanced by outsiders investigating the deaths of outsiders with the probable perpetrator an insider.
That yields two 'outsider' elements and one 'insider' elements on the wrong side of the equation. Thus, the equation maybe that much more difficult to solve.
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That is a very good point.
The investigators may know who did it in the "street", or in this case, "canyon" sense of the word. But as you stated, they dont have enough evidence for search warrants and then proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
If that this the case, it must be very difficult for the investigators when the crime is double murder.
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Double homicide of 2 brothers in Arizona still not solved two years later
Matthew and Philip Reagan were killed on March 21, 2020 on the Navajo Nation. The FBI is still seeking new information to determine who murdered them.
www.12news.com
The brothers from Ohio were on their way to California after Philip, 29, landed a new job. Their remains were discovered near the community of Sawmill on the Navajo Nation.
Family members have said the brothers were doing some sightseeing in the area when their car got stuck in the mud. It appears Matthew and Philip began walking along the side of the road when they crossed paths with their killer.
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AUG 2, 2024
www.12news.com
The Reagan brothers' bodies were found in Sawmill, Arizona, on March 21, 2020. The brothers were traveling from Ohio to California and were passing through Sawmill at the time of their deaths, according to the FBI.
A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for their deaths.
The FBI is seeking information on dozens of cases involving missing or murdered Native Americans
The FBI is looking for information on 48 cases where Native Americans are missing or victims or suspects of violent crimes. Five happened in Arizona.
www.12news.com
A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for their deaths.
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“This is all just some sort of bizarre, surreal nightmare of this happening. This can’t really be what’s happening,” said their sister, Maureen Shear, in an interview with us in 2024.
Matthew, 39, an engineer with five kids, was helping his younger brother Philip, 29, move to California for a new job. They wanted to make some stops along the way and had been heading to Canyon de Chelly National Monument, about an hour’s drive from where they were found dead.
True Crime Arizona correspondent Briana Whitney works at our sister station, AZ Family in Phoenix.
“Arizona is a pretty vast state in general, but when you get onto the tribal land, it’s not only vast, it’s also very rural. So there’s a lot of difficulties with access to even sometimes electricity, water, and emergency services. So when something happens on tribal land, because they are sovereign, they have their own departments, but that changes things based on the resources available and even sometimes the training of those officers,” she said.
Since the crime happened on an Indian reservation, it’s being investigated by the FBI.
It’s a catch-22. You want it in the hands of the feds for more resources, but they are much more tight-lipped than maybe the case manager that was part of the tribal police that originally took the case,” Whitney said. “So it can be a really difficult time for families who oftentimes don’t even have the resources to know how to navigate the legal system, let alone fighting for information that they may not readily get.” .
“We didn’t hear for a while about some of the crime that was still going on,” Whitney said. “When you already have this kind of need for resources on the tribal lands, then the resources were going to the COVID efforts at the time. For something to happen at that time, like a case like this, that is so tough. And I would be willing to bet that it probably was not investigated to the fullest or given the most resources because they just simply couldn’t do it.”
www.cleveland19.com
Matthew, 39, an engineer with five kids, was helping his younger brother Philip, 29, move to California for a new job. They wanted to make some stops along the way and had been heading to Canyon de Chelly National Monument, about an hour’s drive from where they were found dead.
True Crime Arizona correspondent Briana Whitney works at our sister station, AZ Family in Phoenix.
“Arizona is a pretty vast state in general, but when you get onto the tribal land, it’s not only vast, it’s also very rural. So there’s a lot of difficulties with access to even sometimes electricity, water, and emergency services. So when something happens on tribal land, because they are sovereign, they have their own departments, but that changes things based on the resources available and even sometimes the training of those officers,” she said.
Since the crime happened on an Indian reservation, it’s being investigated by the FBI.
It’s a catch-22. You want it in the hands of the feds for more resources, but they are much more tight-lipped than maybe the case manager that was part of the tribal police that originally took the case,” Whitney said. “So it can be a really difficult time for families who oftentimes don’t even have the resources to know how to navigate the legal system, let alone fighting for information that they may not readily get.” .
“We didn’t hear for a while about some of the crime that was still going on,” Whitney said. “When you already have this kind of need for resources on the tribal lands, then the resources were going to the COVID efforts at the time. For something to happen at that time, like a case like this, that is so tough. And I would be willing to bet that it probably was not investigated to the fullest or given the most resources because they just simply couldn’t do it.”
Six years later, the murders of Ohio brothers in Arizona remain unsolved
Two brothers from northeast Ohio were murdered in an isolated area of northern Arizona six years ago this Saturday. Their murders remain unsolved.
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