Farmington man charged with murder in fatal stabbing of Eli Newton

A Farmington man released from custody on March 31 while appealing a probation violation was charged less than three weeks later with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Eli Newton, a case that has raised hard questions about supervision, release, and public safety in San Juan County.

Farmington police said officers were dispatched around 12:30 a.m. on April 15 to a home in the 400 block of East Broadway for a welfare check on an injured man. Inside, they found Eli Newton, 43, with multiple stab wounds to his body, head and throat. Newton was rushed to San Juan Regional Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.

Court records and police reports identify the suspect as Andrew Begay, 29. He was arrested and booked into the San Juan Detention Center on April 17. Prosecutors with the San Juan County District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to keep him jailed before trial, calling the killing a “violent offense with no apparent motive.”

Police later said a witness contacted during an unrelated robbery investigation reported hearing Begay say, “I stabbed someone,” and described seeing blood on his hands and a cut on his face. Begay also allegedly told police that Newton was his uncle and that the two were related through the Kin Ya’a’anii Clan and had met in jail.

Court records show Begay had been on probation for possession of a controlled substance when he was released from custody on March 31, pending the outcome of a probation-violation appeal. Other reporting identified him as homeless. He was back in custody 15 days before the April 15 killing had become a homicide case with a first-degree murder charge attached.

The timeline has put the focus on a familiar local concern: what happens when someone with an active supervision case is back in the community and then accused of a violent killing days later. In this case, prosecutors are arguing that the violence, the lack of an apparent motive, and Begay’s recent release all support holding him without release before trial.