Woman pleads guilty to killing man who was locked in car trunk and stabbed with machete

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

According to court records, 37-year-old Kendra Panteah pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Albuquerque to kidnapping resulting in non-death.

Panteah did not kill or stab the victim, identified only 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, prosecutors said. John was sentenced to 21 years in prison in June after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

According to Panteah and prosecutors, the couple used drugs, including methamphetamine, before the murder, and a lawyer for Panteah said she had struggled with substance abuse.

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

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

“After the car nearly rolled over, the other occupants put John Doe in the trunk after beating him,” she said in the plea agreement.

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

She then asked John for help and went to his apartment, according to court documents.

They both drove to the Navajo Nation in the man's car, which was still locked in the trunk, and drank alcohol and methamphetamine while driving, she said.

They stopped at Bass Lake, 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 that she refused.

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

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

If convicted, Panteah faces at least 10 years in prison and possibly up to 18 years. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 27, according to court records.

Panteah is Zuni and John is Navajo, they both wrote in consent forms.

Panteah's lawyer, Erlinda Johnson, called her a “kind woman” and said events in the case were heavily influenced by drugs and alcohol.

“This tragic case illustrates the drug and alcohol problems that many of our Native American communities struggle with,” Johnson said in an email Tuesday evening. “I firmly believe that if everyone involved had been sober, this tragedy would not have happened.”