Police located Troy Yazzie after his elderly roommate died from injuries authorities tied to an April confrontation over an electric bill.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — The search for a Phoenix man wanted after the death of his elderly roommate ended more than 140 miles away in Flagstaff, where police arrested 31-year-old Troy Yazzie after investigators said he left the Valley following an April confrontation that later became a homicide case.
Yazzie’s July 28 arrest brought together two stages of an investigation that had unfolded in different Arizona cities. Phoenix police were investigating injuries suffered by 76-year-old Manuel Martinez at a West Phoenix apartment, while Yazzie had moved north to Flagstaff, according to authorities. When Martinez later died and detectives developed probable cause for a homicide arrest, Phoenix investigators coordinated with Flagstaff police to locate Yazzie and take him into custody.
Information about Yazzie’s whereabouts emerged during the continuing investigation. AZFamily, citing court documents, reported that Yazzie had met with his probation officer and said he planned to return to Flagstaff to live with his mother. Police accounts say detectives learned that Yazzie had moved to the city. That information allowed Phoenix’s Crime Impact Unit to coordinate with the Flagstaff Police Department while homicide detectives continued developing the case involving Martinez’s death.
Flagstaff officers arrested Yazzie on July 28. Members of the Phoenix Police Department’s Fugitive Apprehension Investigations Detail then traveled to Flagstaff and transported him back to Phoenix, according to a department account carried by the Arizona Daily Independent. Once returned, Yazzie was booked on one count of second-degree murder. Multiple reports said his bond was set at $1 million. The accusation remains pending rather than a finding that he committed the charged crime.
The arrest came almost three months after the event that started the investigation. Shortly before 10:30 p.m. April 30, Martinez called police from an apartment complex in the area of 2400 West Hazelwood Street. He and Yazzie were roommates, and Martinez told authorities they had been arguing about money for their electric bill. Officers arrived to find Martinez injured, but police said Yazzie had left before they reached the scene.
Martinez’s account gave investigators their first description of what allegedly happened. Reports based on police and court records say Martinez had given Yazzie $50 to pay the electric bill. When the payment was not made, Martinez asked for the money to be returned. Prosecutors allege that the dispute escalated and Yazzie attacked the older man, first punching him and then striking him repeatedly with a white construction helmet. Martinez suffered serious facial and head injuries.
The evidence gathering began even though the suspected assailant was gone. Martinez gave officers a statement before he was transported to a hospital. An arrest affidavit cited by Law&Crime says a male voice was audible in the background of Martinez’s 911 call asking whether he was calling police. Court-document reporting also says a hard hat was recovered outside the apartment complex the next day. Public reports do not provide the results of any forensic testing of that item.
Martinez remained under medical care as police continued looking into the assault. AZFamily reported that imaging revealed several facial fractures requiring surgery. Other reporting based on the affidavit described additional head injuries. Martinez was later moved to a rehabilitation center but developed complications and returned to hospital care. His condition ultimately became the development that changed the nature of the investigation and made locating Yazzie more urgent for homicide detectives.
There is a discrepancy in the public record concerning when Martinez died. A Phoenix police account cited by KTAR and the Arizona Daily Independent says his death occurred July 11. AZFamily, relying on court documents, reported July 15. Both sources, however, attribute his death to complications associated with blunt-force trauma from the April encounter. The available material does not resolve why the dates differ, so the precise date remains disputed in the reports reviewed.
After Martinez’s death, the Phoenix Police Department’s Violent Crimes Bureau Homicide Unit assumed the case. Detectives said they developed probable cause to arrest Yazzie in connection with the death. By then, investigators had to pursue a suspect who was no longer living in Phoenix. Police said the coordination between local units and Flagstaff authorities led to the arrest, turning a search for Yazzie into the next major development in the case.
Investigators interviewed Yazzie after he was taken into custody. Court records described in AZFamily say he admitted punching Martinez and using his construction helmet to strike him. Law&Crime reported that the affidavit said Yazzie did not assert self-defense. The same report said he acknowledged that Martinez was older and that striking an older person could cause serious injury or death. Those statements have been reported as part of an arrest affidavit and have not been tested at trial.
The state’s choice of a second-degree murder charge reflects the allegation that the April violence caused Martinez’s eventual death without the public record alleging premeditated killing. Under Arizona law, second-degree murder can apply when a person intentionally causes a death without premeditation, knowingly causes death or serious physical injury resulting in death, or recklessly creates a grave risk of death under circumstances showing extreme indifference to human life. Prosecutors still bear the burden of proving whichever statutory theory they pursue.
The distance between the alleged attack and the eventual arrest is only one part of the case’s timeline. The more consequential gap was the medical interval between April 30 and July. Martinez survived long enough to provide his account, undergo treatment and enter rehabilitation. Police then say his condition worsened. Once his death was attributed to the injuries from the confrontation, investigators shifted from pursuing an assault case to alleging that Yazzie was criminally responsible for Martinez’s death.
The investigation described publicly therefore contains evidence gathered at several different points: Martinez’s own statement shortly after the alleged attack; a 911 recording; officers’ observations at the apartment; a helmet reportedly recovered the next day; weeks of medical records; information used to locate Yazzie in Flagstaff; and statements investigators say he made after his arrest. The weight of those individual pieces and whether each is admissible are questions for the court rather than conclusions established by police accounts alone.
Publicly available reports reviewed through Sept. 8 did not establish a final resolution of the second-degree murder case. Yazzie’s arrest in Flagstaff ended the law-enforcement search described in the initial reports, but it began the judicial phase of a case prosecutors would still have to prove. Martinez’s death remains at the center of that prosecution, while the sequence linking Phoenix, his prolonged medical treatment and Yazzie’s arrest in northern Arizona forms the investigative path that brought the case to court.
Author note: Last updated September 8, 2026.