ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says a 51-year-old man is the “prime suspect in a series of crimes targeting Native American men in Gallup, Zuni, and Albuquerque.” A federal grand jury has indicted the suspect, Labar Tsethlikai, in the murder of one Navajo man.
Tsethlikai is accused of murdering the unnamed victim in January of 2024, after the man was found dead on a remote part of the Zuni Reservation in New Mexico.
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Federal investigators claim Tsethlikai is also connected to “a string of murders, kidnappings, robberies, sexual abuses, and assaults,” according to the DOJ. Those crimes happened in the Albuquerque metro area and beyond, from May of 2023 to April of 2024. Apart from the Navajo man found on the Zuni Reservation, the DOJ says they believe one additional victim tied to Tsethlikai dies after being kidnapped.
A common modus operandi, along with victim statements, surveillance video, purchase transaction records, phone tracking, and DNA analysis led investigators to connect Tsethlikai to the crimes, the DOJ explains.