A female member of the Ute Indian tribe has been charged in federal court with fatally shooting another woman last summer on the tribe’s reservation in northeastern Utah.
Zhondee Spring Nephi, 30, of Ft. Duchesne, was indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court with one count of “murder in the second degree while in Indian Country” for the Aug. 23 death of 20-year-old Sukakee Manyhides.
Nephi also was indicted with discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.
An August news release from the FBI says Manyhides was found dead, on a road northwest of Whiterocks, which is about 15 miles north of Ft. Duchesne.
After her Aug. 26 arrest for the homicide, Nephi and another woman, Letha Ilene Beston, 21, allegedly forced two other inmates at the Duchesne County jail to strip down in the shower and be searched after purportedly stealing sugar packets.
One of the alleged victims reported to jail officials that on Oct. 29, Beston forced them to strip on behalf of Nephi, who believed they had stolen the sugar from her commissary order.
And after the search, Nephi allegedly grabbed one of the women by the neck and punched her in the face, charges state.
Nephi and Beston were each charged in 8th District Court with two counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse. Nephi was also charged with one count of third-degree felony assault by a prisoner.
No court dates have been set.
(Courtesy) Letha Ilene Beston