Wanted kidnapping suspect arrested in McKinley County on rape charges

Landerson Navajo was arrested Friday morning in McKinley County, ending a search tied to a June 4 kidnapping in Grants that left a woman assaulted and able to flee only after being taken to another location. The arrest brings a case that had unsettled western New Mexico into the criminal justice system, with Navajo facing some of the region’s most serious felony allegations.

Investigators said the abduction began in the early afternoon at an Allsup’s convenience store on Santa Fe Avenue in Grants. Authorities said Navajo took the female victim from the store, knocked her unconscious and transported her elsewhere before assaulting her. The victim later escaped and called for help, setting off the search that led officers to Navajo in McKinley County.

Navajo was wanted on multiple felony charges, including kidnapping, robbery, aggravated battery, assault with intent to commit a violent felony and criminal sexual penetration. He also had an outstanding warrant on a rape charge involving a child under 13. Officials had identified Navajo as a wanted man and said his last known residence was in Prewitt, adding urgency to the public alert as the search spread beyond Cibola County.

The Cibola County Sheriff’s Office had asked residents for help locating Navajo before the arrest, and Friday’s capture answered that request after days of concern over a violent crime case centered in Grants. With Navajo now in custody, the case turns from a public manhunt to the question of how prosecutors will move forward on the kidnapping and sexual violence allegations.

The arrest also lands in a broader climate of alarm across New Mexico, where violent crime, sexual assault and missing and murdered Indigenous people remain a pressing issue for many communities. McKinley County, in particular, has recently faced scrutiny over how rape and kidnapping cases are handled, including instances in which state officials stepped in after dismissals. For residents in Grants, Prewitt and across the county line, the arrest closes one chapter of the case, but the scope of the charges shows how serious the threat was when Navajo was still at large.