{"id":47011,"date":"2025-05-12T14:48:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T21:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=47011"},"modified":"2025-05-12T14:48:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T21:48:04","slug":"six-years-after-her-sons-homicide-a-navajo-mother-still-searches-for-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/six-years-after-her-sons-homicide-a-navajo-mother-still-searches-for-answers\/","title":{"rendered":"Six years after her son\u2019s homicide, a Navajo mother still searches for answers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story<\/a> was originally published at New Mexico In Depth<\/a>, a NMPBS partner.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Since the FBI closed its investigation into her son Kyle\u2019s homicide over three years ago, Colleen Harrison Jackson has advocated for the case to be reopened. Here, she holds her son\u2019s college diploma while surrounded by photos and memories of her child. Credit: Ungelbah D\u00e1vila for New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This reporting was supported by the International Women\u2019s Media Foundation\u2019s Fund<\/a> for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T).<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

By Bella Davis, New Mexico In Depth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a summer evening in 2019, a man living in a hilltop house in the Navajo community of Nenahnezad called 911 to report a body in the dirt road in front of his home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe guy is not breathing, nothing,\u201d he told the operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The person he discovered was Kyle Jackson, a 31-year-old citizen of the Navajo Nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyle had fought with another man at a nearby house hours before his body was found, according to witness interviews by law enforcement. Severely injured, Kyle was kicked out of the house. It\u2019s unclear how long he lay in the road before dying, but at least one other person passed by without stopping to help him, about six hours before the call to police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the following weeks, his mother, Colleen Harrison Jackson, visited the spot where his body was found and spoke with the 911 caller, along with some of his friends who had been with him in the days leading up to his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She put her faith in the Navajo Department of Criminal Investigations and the FBI \u2014 one of the agencies on the case because Kyle\u2019s body was found on the reservation. Over the next few years, she called investigators from both agencies for updates. They would get back to her sometimes, but not always. She also reached out to an FBI victim specialist, who would tell her the investigators were still working on the case, so she remained hopeful they would eventually make an arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then she got the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FBI had closed its investigation, the specialist wrote to Colleen in March 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter provided a nine-word explanation: The United States Attorney\u2019s Office had declined to prosecute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing in front of the post office, Colleen cried as she read those words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo one called me and said, \u2018We\u2019re going to close this case, this is why.\u2019 No one called me,\u201d she said. \u201cI just get this letter, and I was very upset because I didn\u2019t know what happened. I really just broke down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this day, no one has been tried for killing Kyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Colleen wears a pendant from her son, Kyle, as she shows a snapshot of him as a toddler. Credit: Ungelbah D\u00e1vila for New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Colleen isn\u2019t alone. She\u2019s one of thousands who have lost loved ones to a national crisis of Indigenous people disproportionately dying of homicide or going missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infrequent updates from law enforcement, many affected families say, have intensified the pain they\u2019re already feeling. That was one of the key findings of the federal Not Invisible Act Commission, which, in a 2023 report<\/a>, made numerous recommendations aimed at police and prosecutors improving the way they communicate with families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with New Mexico In Depth last year, former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Alexander Uballez and two prosecutors in the office\u2019s Indian Country Crimes section acknowledged the harm done to families when the federal government delivers difficult news about their loved ones\u2019 cases through the mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his tenure, which began in May 2022, the office established a policy of updating families in person when possible, according to Uballez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Not Invisible Act Commission member says that\u2019s a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Uballez, who announced his run for Albuquerque mayor in April, has since resigned at the request of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new U.S. attorney for the district, Ryan Ellison, didn\u2019t answer a question about whether the policy Uballez described will remain, but said in an email that prosecutors working closely with families is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The Navajo Nation covers about 27,000 square miles and four states. Just outside of Farmington, Shiprock can be seen in the distance. Credit: Ungelbah D\u00e1vila for New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in northwestern New Mexico, Kyle spent time playing along the San Juan River, fishing at a nearby dam with his grandpa, and helping take care of his siblings and cousins. He was an avid reader and enjoyed working on science projects for school fairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His childhood love of the outdoors continued into adulthood, and he often went on hikes and camping trips. In 2016, he graduated from San Juan College with an associate of applied science degree in the college\u2019s industrial maintenance mechanic program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyle \u201cnever let things get him down,\u201d Colleen said, and looked out for others. As a teenager, he urged his mom to let friends who had unstable home lives stay with their family, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former girlfriend, Christa Perez, first met Kyle when they were in high school. They reconnected over a decade later and started dating. Perez is a single mom with three kids and was struggling at the time, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for Kyle, I think I\u2019d still be drinking. I\u2019d still be lost,\u201d Perez said. \u201cHe was there for me no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He taught her kids how to play a card game, and to this day, Perez said, they ask, \u201cAre we going to play Kyle\u2019s cards or regular cards?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They broke up about a year before his death but kept in touch, up until the week he died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three
Kyle Jackson\u2019s former girlfriend Christa Perez (left) shows Colleen (center) and Colleen\u2019s sister Corene Harrison (right) photos on her phone of her time with Kyle. Credit: Ungelbah D\u00e1vila for New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A violent evening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Colleen shared with New Mexico In Depth a Shiprock police incident report, the letter she received from the FBI in 2022, and a report of findings from the University of New Mexico\u2019s Office of the Medical Investigator, which found Kyle had died of blunt head trauma. The news organization obtained the recording of the 911 call and dispatch log from San Juan County, along with records maintained by the FBI, primarily summaries of witness interviews from which names have been redacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the night of Friday, June 21, at about 9 p.m., Kyle and two other people went to a nearby store to pick up alcohol. Later that night, he ended up at a house in Nenahnezad, where, according to the witness interviews, he and another man fought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyle \u201cmay have been struck with a hammer,\u201d according to the report of findings. He then \u201cmoved about the home, bleeding on various surfaces, before being kicked out\u201d early Saturday morning with facial and skull fractures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At about noon on Saturday, a man driving to visit a friend in the area saw Kyle lying in the road, he later told a Navajo criminal investigator. The man believed Kyle, who appeared to have been \u201cbeaten badly,\u201d was dead. He continued up the road and saw busted windows on the house he intended to visit. Not wanting to get involved, he turned around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he drove past Kyle again to leave the area, he was \u201cmoving around a little bit.\u201d The man \u201cwas afraid the guy might get up and turn on him,\u201d so he drove off just as it began to rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trying to make sense of why the man didn\u2019t help Kyle, Colleen said she thinks people in her community are hesitant to call law enforcement because they\u2019re skeptical arrests will come out of it, and there are fears about retaliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
On a dirt road in the Navajo community of Nenahnezad, the body of Kyle Jackson was discovered on June 22, 2019. Credit: Ungelbah D\u00e1vila for New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 911 call didn\u2019t come in until about 6:30 p.m. that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The caller told the operator he had just arrived home from Farmington when he found Kyle\u2019s body in the road out front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes he look to be beyond any help?\u201d the operator asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNope, nope, not even breathing, nothing,\u201d the caller said. \u201cHe looks\u2014he got hit or something. There\u2019s a hole in the side of his temple.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emergency medical services and then officers with the Navajo Nation\u2019s Shiprock Police District arrived over the next 40 minutes. Several other people later arrived at the scene, a police officer wrote in his report, including Kyle\u2019s grandmother, who asked to see his body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At about the same time, Colleen was a few miles away, hosting a birthday party for her daughter. She learned about her son\u2019s death later that night from his grandmother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew something was wrong already. I could feel it,\u201d Colleen said. \u201cAnd when she told me, I don\u2019t even know what happened after that. I couldn\u2019t even breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Early on in the investigation, the family was told there was a suspect, and the suspect\u2019s arrest might be on the news in another week, Colleen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weeks turned into months, though, and that never happened. But when Colleen would call for updates, an FBI victim specialist would sometimes get back to her and say investigators were still working on the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the letter \u2014 dated March 17, 2022, nearly three years after Kyle\u2019s death \u2014 came as a shock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FBI had closed its investigation because the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office had declined to prosecute, the victim specialist wrote. The decision didn\u2019t \u201clessen the important contribution\u201d Colleen made to the investigation, the letter reads, and her \u201cassistance and cooperation were greatly appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colleen called the Navajo criminal investigator and asked him to explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigator arranged a meeting with the FBI agent. During that sit-down, which Colleen remembers happening about four months after she received the letter, they told her there wasn\u2019t enough evidence to prosecute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They said the case could be reopened if another witness came forward, Colleen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was almost three years ago. There have been no updates since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
Colleen sifts through the files she has kept on her son\u2019s case as her sister Corene looks on. Credit: Ungelbah D\u00e1vila for New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a late February interview, Uballez, the former U.S. attorney, wouldn\u2019t talk about Kyle\u2019s case, saying the office typically doesn\u2019t comment on investigations, whether they\u2019re open or closed. But he spoke more generally about how a federal prosecutor decides whether to file charges. (Uballez was sworn into office in May 2022, two months after Colleen received the letter from the FBI.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FBI agents assigned to a case, Uballez said, can \u201cprocedurally, look at it themselves\u201d and decide to not refer it for prosecution. Or \u201cthey could look at it and say, either, \u2018We\u2019re sort of on the fence and we want you guys to make the call,\u2019 or, \u2018We think there\u2019s a charge there,\u2019\u201d Uballez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal prosecutors then evaluate whether there were any constitutional rights violations and whether they think a case could be proven to a jury, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a different calculus,\u201d Uballez said. \u201cEven though we may agree we know who did this, what happened, it doesn\u2019t mean that we should charge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the dark<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, the federal Not Invisible Act Commission<\/a> heard testimony from at least 260 people who have lost loved ones to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people or survived human trafficking. The commission visited seven cities, including Albuquerque<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the major themes from the hearings, the commission wrote in a report published in October that year, was that \u201cauthorities at all levels must improve communications with family members, who are too often left in the dark for days, weeks, or months about the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTragically, a case may be declared \u2018cold\u2019 without a family receiving any information about the investigation,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked what has stuck with her most from the hearings, Amber Kanazbah Crotty, a commission member and Navajo Nation Council delegate, said families\u2019 disappointment with law enforcement either communicating with them infrequently or in ways that don\u2019t feel compassionate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re dealing with their missing relative, or there may have been violence, a homicide or a criminal element to their case, but with the lack of communication from law enforcement, it just adds on another layer of, they don\u2019t feel that their relatives mattered,\u201d Crotty said in an April interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Amber Kanazbah Crotty on April 29, 2025 at Tooh Haltsooi Community Center, Sheep Springs, NM. Crotty is a Navajo Nation Council delegate who represents the communities of Cove, Toadlena\/Two Grey Hills, Red Valley Tse\u2019alnaozt\u2019i\u2019i\u2019, Sheepsprings, Beclabito, and Gadiiahi\/To\u2019Koi. Credit: Marjorie Childress\/New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Instead of mailing a family a piece of paper informing them their relative\u2019s case has been closed, she said, the commission recommended \u201ca warm hand off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the U.S. attorney themselves, but at least a victim advocate to be there to answer any questions they have, and they\u2019re then referring them or connecting them to community resources like behavioral health, mental health support groups, so they\u2019re not feeling like this is only happening to them and nobody cares about their relatives,\u201d Crotty said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improving communication<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Justice Department since 2010 has required every U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office with tribal lands in its district to develop an operational plan for addressing public safety in Indian country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA trauma-informed approach both considers the emotional impact on victims and their families and is culturally sensitive,\u201d reads the New Mexico office\u2019s plan, last updated in 2024. \u201cThe relationship between Tribal communities and the federal government is a fraught one. [Assistant U.S. attorneys] and law enforcement need to acknowledge this history and work hard to gain the trust of Tribal members who may have reasons to distrust the federal government and law enforcement based on past experiences and long histories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the office can\u2019t share all the details of an investigation or why it made a particular decision, staff have been working to do a better job of communicating with affected families, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eliot Neal said during an interview last year. Neal was hired in 2023 as part of the Justice Department\u2019s Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One \u201cchallenge\u201d the office identified in recent years, Neal said, was families not hearing from law enforcement for long periods of time and then receiving letters \u2014 like the one Colleen got \u2014 \u201cout of the blue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, the office instituted a policy of giving families case updates in person when possible, Indian Country Crimes Section Supervisor Elisa Dimas said during last year\u2019s interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made it a real priority to understand the emotional impact that these cases have on families, to make sure that we go out and deliver this news in person, if we can, along with the victim advocate,\u201d Dimas said. \u201cBecause even though we might not be pursuing a criminal case at our office, we know that there are still resources and support that we can provide, either through the victim advocates or community resources, to these families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That practice \u201ccame naturally to a lot of us\u201d based on prior experience working with crime victims and their families, Uballez said in the February interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we did was expand the responsibility to include this more victim-centric, community-centric\u2014you know, to build in time for people to build those relationships. And of course, if resources get drawn down there, either in personnel, or priorities elsewhere get expanded, that could change,\u201d Uballez said, referring to Trump administration directives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked if the in-person-when-possible policy will remain, Ellison, who was sworn in as New Mexico\u2019s U.S. attorney on April 18, said in an email sent by spokesperson Tessa DuBerry that he understands \u201cthe importance of working with families of violent crimes to ensure there is justice for what they have suffered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI encourage the prosecutors working with victims of violent crimes, including those in Indian Country, to work closely with these families as their cases proceed through federal court,\u201d Ellison wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018All for Kyle\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the spring before his death, Kyle gave his mother a packet of flower seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colleen enjoyed gardening, but she hadn\u2019t done it in a long time, and the packet ended up in a drawer somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago, she was cleaning up around her house when she came across it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just broke down. I remembered him giving that to me, and I said, \u2018I\u2019m going to make a garden.\u2019 So I put flowers all over my front yard, and I\u2019m starting on the back. Trees, flowers, and it\u2019s growing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all for Kyle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Colleen holds her son Kyle\u2019s college diploma during an emotional moment. Credit: Ungelbah D\u00e1vila for New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Colleen has worked doggedly to find answers and get Kyle\u2019s case reopened since receiving the letter in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s attended events, sometimes as far away as three hours south in Albuquerque, to ask for help from federal and tribal officials. She\u2019s created posters with photos of her son and information about his death to take to rallies and gotten to know other Indigenous families with relatives who have been killed or gone missing. And she has repeatedly followed up with the investigators and filed records requests to try to learn more about their efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has her own theories about what happened to Kyle, but she worries she\u2019ll never know definitively who killed her son or why they did it, let alone that they\u2019ll face criminal charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nightmare, and my family is not the same,\u201d Colleen said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know how\u2014you never come back from this. You don\u2019t come back from it. You can adjust to it, but my life is different now, it\u2019s just so different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was originally published at New Mexico In Depth<\/a>, a NMPBS partner.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published at New Mexico In Depth, a NMPBS partner. This reporting was supported by the International Women\u2019s Media Foundation\u2019s Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T). 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This reporting was supported by the International Women\u2019s Media Foundation\u2019s Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T). 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