arizona news
Has been updated: May 5, 2023 at 1:37 PM
(Photo via Terry Welfenberg – Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office)
PHOENIX — A man in his 70s was arrested last month after a health check turned into a mystery in rural Arizona.
Everything happened on April 7, when the post office in Ash Fork, a small community about 60 miles east of Flagstaff, told the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office that residents in the area hadn’t received their mail in over a year. It started when
According to a YCSO press release, when we went to check on John McCabe, 67, we learned that Terry Welfenberg, 76, lives on McCabe’s property in Juniper Woods. on social media Friday.
Welfenberg told his rep that McCabe left about two years ago, but he couldn’t give an exact time. He admitted that he stole it and started living there.
The YCSO arrested Welfenberg on burglary and gun theft charges and raided his home.
During the search, volunteers noticed what appeared to be skull fragments in the fire pit.
Detectives obtained a search warrant and found several other bones that were later determined to be human.
Two days later, another search found McCabe’s medical ID bracelet, wallet and other bone fragments.
A possible murder charge against Werfenberg is currently pending, according to YCSO.
“What could have been a simple welfare check on a man who may have simply left the area turned out to be far more nefarious, due to the instincts of the corresponding agent and the tenacity of the CIB detectives. We just did it,” the agency’s Criminal Investigative Service said in a release.
“A murder suspect is now in custody and justice may be brought to a man whose tragic death may have gone undiscovered.”
