In the winter of 1987, 36-year-old Navajo Tribal Police Officer Andy Begay and his partner, Officer Roy Lee Stanley were investigating reports of a party serving alcohol in a remote area of the Navajo Indian Reservation on the night of December 5. Both officers were shot and killed while on that call. Their bodies were placed in a patrol vehicle which was driven to a desolate spot near Lake Powell known as Copper Canyon; the vehicle and the officers were set on fire. The charred remains were found the next day, still smoldering inside the burned-out police vehicle.

A multi-agency investigation involving the Navajo Division of Public Safety, the FBI, and local law enforcement identified and led to the arrest of four suspects: Thomas Cly, Vinton Bedonie, Ben Atene, Jr., and Marques Atene. At trial, Thomas Cly and Vinton Bedonie were convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of Officers Begay and Stanley and of using a firearm during a crime of violence. Officer Begay was a 12-year veteran assigned to the Kayenta District and was survived by his wife and four children.

Does anyone have additional information about the party that night or remember activity near Copper Canyon around December 5, 1987?