A Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community member was found guilt last week of first-degree murder along with other crimes in a 2020 killing.

Clifton Nez Hamalowa, 47, was found guilty after a seven-day trial in federal court of the murder charge as well as conspiracy to commit assault resulting in serious bodily injury, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault resulting in serious bodily injury and discharging a fire during, in relation to or in furtherance of a crime of violence. He has yet to be sentenced, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

Hamalowa was convicted in an Aug. 29, 2020, murder in which authorities said he had an argument with the victim, who he later shot in the head multiple times. Following the shooting, he dumped the victim's body in a remote area of tribal land, according to the attorney’s office.

Helping him hide the crime were his brother, Thomas Leon Hamalowa, and his sister, Devonne Beth Hamalowa. His brother was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison for taking the victim’s car to Parker, while his sister, who made her daughter clean the victim’s blood from the crime scene on the Gila River Indian Community, was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison. Both pleaded guilty to accessory-after-the-fact to murder, according to the attorney’s office.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Gila River Police Department jointly investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer E. LaGrange and Travis L. Wheeler, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution.