Three Indicted in 2020 Nenahnezad Murder of Zachariah Shorty

Federal authorities announced on November 24, 2025 that three people have been indicted in connection with the killing of Zachariah Juwaun Shorty, who was found dead on July 25, 2020 on a dirt pathway in a field in Nenahnezad on the Navajo Nation. Shorty, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, had sustained multiple gunshot wounds after an incident on July 21, 2020. The investigation remained unsolved for years before Special Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation made a breakthrough.

Court documents allege that 31 year old Austin Begay, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, used a semiautomatic pistol to shoot and kill Shorty with malice aforethought and premeditation. Begay is charged with first degree murder in Indian Country and with knowingly using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and discharging that firearm, thereby causing Shorty’s death. Thirty eight year old Jaymes Fage, also an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, is alleged to have aided and abetted the killing and faces related charges including making materially false statements to federal investigators in December 2021 and an accessory after the fact allegation for attempting to help conceal the murder. Forty year old Joshua Watkins is also charged with crimes related to concealing the murder. All three defendants face a charge of misprision of a felony, which criminalizes having knowledge of a federal felony and failing to report it as soon as possible.

If convicted, Begay and Fage face a maximum of life in prison. Watkins faces up to three years in prison. Begay and Fage will remain in custody pending trial. The Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office led the investigation with assistance from the Navajo Police Department, the Navajo Department of Criminal Investigations and the Farmington Police Department. Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico are handling the case.

For San Juan County residents, the indictment represents both a legal milestone and a moment of community reckoning. The case highlights ongoing concerns about violence on the Navajo Nation, the importance of trust and coordination between Tribal, local and federal agencies, and national efforts such as the Department of Justice Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach Program and the FBI’s Operation Not Forgotten to address unsolved cases involving Indigenous victims. An indictment is merely an allegation. The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.