Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022 | 5:35 p.m.
Hunter Allen McGuire
The suspect in a fatal shooting of a woman at a residence in Spring Valley earlier this week has been found dead of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound in a remote desert area of Arizona in which he and two others were camping out, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office.
Hunter Allen McGuire, 26, was wanted for murder with a deadly weapon after he allegedly shot and killed a woman he was believed to be temporarily living with during an argument around 11:05 p.m. Monday in the 6200 block of Craigmont Avenue, according to Metro Police.
McGuire fled the scene before officers arrived, police said.
He had been in Las Vegas hiding out from a suspected double murder in June in Arizona, officials said.
Video surveillance showed McGuire’s girlfriend, 32-year-old Samantha Branek, pawning evidence of the alleged murder on Monday, the sheriff’s office said. The pair were traveling together, and an arrest warrant was also issued for Branek, they said.
McGuire fled back to Arizona, where Mohave County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded Wednesday to a residence in Golden Valley, Ariz., and found 34-year-old Martin Eric Nelson, Jr. dead of a gunshot wound to the head.
A man, identified as 42-year-old Timothy Wayne Burt, approached investigators at the property, saying he had been there with Nelson when McGuire confronted them and began shooting.
Burt was arrested for hindering prosecution, as his story to investigators changed many times, the sheriff’s office said.
The property was determined to have been occupied by McGuire and Branek, and a search turned up evidence relating to a June double homicide in Golden Valley, the sheriff’s office said.
Based on video surveillance, investigators determined that McGuire had been in Las Vegas as a means of hiding because he was a wanted suspect for the June murder of Retta Atkins and Darren VanHouten in Kingman, Ariz., the sheriff’s office said.
Branek and 23-year-old Brittany Conkling were next observed at a truck stop in Yucca, Ariz., on Thursday. Branek’s vehicle was located again just after noon Friday, and a high-speed chase ensued for 35 miles after a marked patrol unit approached the car.
Branek’s vehicle eventually slid off the road and three subjects ran into a desert area “populated with trees and brush,” the sheriff’s office said.
An Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter arrived, and McGuire was determined to be in possession of a rifle, and attempting to hide underneath a large tree with Branek.
After four hours of negotiations and air surveillance with no response, the Lake Havasu City Police Department SWAT team found McGuire and Branek lying beside one another, deceased, the sheriff’s office said.
They each had a single gunshot wound to the head. McGuire’s was self-inflicted, but whether Branek’s was also is unknown. A rifle was laying on McGuire’s chest.
Additional evidence was recovered at the scene relating to the June homicide of Atkins and VanHouten in Arizona, the sheriff’s office said.
Conkling had hid separately from McGuire and Branek, and surrendered to police without incident. She was arrested for hindering prosecution after admitting to knowingly aiding McGuire while he was wanted for murder, the sheriff’s office said.
McGuire remains a suspect in active murder investigations, the sheriff’s office said.
