Sunday, June 19, 2011

Wellton, AZ: Wellton woman killed, boyfriend arrested

UPDATED - An argument turned deadly in Wellton early Friday morning when a boyfriend allegedly killed his girlfriend.

“There were no obvious indications a weapon was used,” said Capt. Eben Bratcher, spokesman for the Yuma County Sheriff's Office.

Bratcher said YCSO received a call at 3:21 a.m. about an injured person near County 9th Street and Avenue 30E. He said Wellton police officers found the victim inside a vehicle driven by the boyfriend.

Wellton police officers performed CPR until paramedics from Tri Valley Ambulance arrived. Pronounced dead at the scene, she has been identified as Charlotte Jones, 19, of Wellton, a 2009 graduate of Antelope High School.

The boyfriend, identified as Fernando Silva, 19, also of Wellton, was booked into the Yuma County jail on a charge of second-degree murder. He made his initial appearance in Wellton Justice Court later Friday morning.

“These two were alone in a vehicle in that area and got into a verbal argument,” Bratcher said. “At some point the argument turned physical and she sustained fatal injuries.”

Bratcher said the cause of death has not been determined and pending the results of an autopsy.

For Wellton, a town still healing from a recent shooting spree, Jones' death would be the fifth murder in 15 days. On June 2, Carey Hal Dyess, 73, shot and killed Wellton residents James P. Simpson, 75; Theresa Lorraine Sigurdson, 61, Dyess' former wife; and Cindy Finney and Henry Scott Finney, 76. He also killed Yuma attorney Jerrold “Jerry” Shelley and wounded Linda Kay Clatone before turning the gun on himself.

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