Woman pleads guilty in killing of man who was locked in trunk, stabbed with machete

A woman pleaded guilty last week to her involvement in the kidnapping of a man in New Mexico, who was then kept locked in a trunk and fatally stabbed when he tried to escape, federal prosecutors said Tuesday .

Kendra Panteah, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping not resulting in death on Friday in federal court in Albuquerque, according to court records.

Panteah did not kill or stab the victim, who was only identified as John Doe, in the July 2019 incident, but she was there, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico said.

Another man, Gilbert John Jr., fatally stabbed the victim, the prosecutor's office said. John was sentenced in June to 21 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

The pair used drugs, including methamphetamine, before the killing, according to Panteah and prosecutors, and an attorney for Panteah said she had struggled with substance abuse.

After killing the victim, John drove the man's car with his body in it to a remote location and set it on fire in an attempt to cover up the crime, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Panteah said in a plea agreement that she was driving with others in the victim's car from Zuni, New Mexico, to Witch Wells, Arizona, to buy some beer, and the victim, who was not driving, kept grabbing at the wheel.

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"After almost rolling the car, the other occupants of the car put John Doe in the trunk after beating him up," she said in the plea agreement.

Panteah said the other two people got out as she drove to Gallup with the man still locked in the trunk, according to the plea agreement.

It was then that she asked John for help and went to his apartment, according to the court document.

They both drove the man's car, with him still locked in the trunk, into the Navajo Nation and drank alcohol and used methamphetamine during the drive, she said.

They stopped at Bass Lake, which is where the victim began breaking out of the trunk and John stabbed him repeatedly with a machete, Panteah and prosecutors said. Panteah said John wanted her to stab the victim, too, but she refused.

John in his plea agreement admitted to stabbing the victim but also said the person he was with — who is not identified in that document — threw a large rock at the victim's head after he was stabbed and still moving.

He and Panteah sat on the trunk of the car until the victim stopped moving, according to Panteah's plea agreement.

Panteah faces at least 10 years in prison when she is sentenced, and potentially up to a maximum of 18 years. Sentencing is set for Jan. 27, court records show.

Panteah is Zuni and John is Navajo, they each wrote in plea agreements.

Panteah's attorney, Erlinda Johnson, called her a "kind woman" and said that the events in the case were strongly influenced by drugs and alcohol.

"This tragic case exemplifies the substance and alcohol abuse problems with which many of our Native American communities struggle," Johnson said in an email Tuesday night. "I strongly believe that this tragedy would not have occurred had everyone involved been sober."

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