FBI apprehends San Juan County man for April murder near Bluff

A San Juan County man was arrested by the FBI at a residence in Bluff at 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 12 for the alleged murder of 31-year-old Antonio Montowine.
The murder took place on April 13, 2018. Perry Maryboy was officially charged with second-degree felony murder on Dec. 14 in a federal district court in Salt Lake City by Judge Dustin B. Pead.
He is currently being held in police custody as he awaits a detention hearing on Dec. 20.
The 31-year-old Montowine, of Santa Fe, NM, was shot and killed at approximately 6 p.m. on April 13 on County Road 443, roughly 2.5 miles from Hwy 191 south of Bluff in the Navajo Nation. Montowine’s wife and 7-year-old son were firsthand witnesses of the murder.
The murder took place after the Montowine family was out looking for a lost pet on the evening of April 13 on family-owned land.
The family spotted a white truck with a male driver sitting inside texting. Due to past illegal dumping on the property, Montowine’s wife asked him to confront the driver.
Upon confronting the driver, an argument ensued and eventually, the driver of the white truck produced what he called a “.38” and fired one shot into the air.
Montowine tried to get into his vehicle after the initial shot was fired and a second shot struck him in the back of the head.
The driver of the vehicle then fled the scene immediately, according to court documents.
In June, nearly two months after the murder, the FBI released a composite sketch of the suspect with a $1,000 reward for any information related to the murder of Matowine.
In April the suspect was described as being a Native American male with a medium build.
He was believed to stand between 5-feet 6-inches and 5-feet 8-inches tall, with an estimated weight between 150 and 170 pounds.
The vehicle was described as a white truck with 4x4 decals on the side of the truck.
According to charging documents, investigators received a text message from Montowine’s wife on Aug. 16, 2018, stating that she had spotted the same white 4x4 truck on the Navajo Nation.
She was able to provide FBI agents with a license plate number and that license plate number was discovered to be registered to Linda Maryboy, the wife of Perry.
After an interview was conducted by Special Agent Jarod Girod of the FBI in August at Maryboy Construction with a member of the Maryboy family, Girod was told that Perry resembled the composite sketch.
It was also revealed to Girod that Perry had been involved in an assault several years prior where a handgun was pulled on a family member and, ”Maryboy then fired a total of approximately five rounds into the air and ground,” according to the probable cause statement.
Perry was arrested at the time by Navajo Nation Police and a .357 revolver involved was confiscated and later returned to Maryboy’s brother on March 15, 2017.
On Oct. 9, 2018, investigators acquired a search warrant for Google location data on Perry’s phone.
The data placed his phone, “present at the location of the April 13 shooting from approximately 6:19 P.M. until 7:02 P.M. on April 13, 2018.”
Based on the information obtained during his investigation, Girod and the FBI believed there was enough probable cause to charge Maryboy with, “Murder in the second degree While Within Indian Country.”
Due to the ongoing nature of the case, investigators are unable to reveal further details at this time.
This is a developing story that will be updated as the case works through the court system in the coming weeks and months.

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