In the winter of 1987 two Navajo Division of Public Safety officers were killed while investigating an alcohol-related party near the Utah–Arizona border on the Navajo Reservation. One of the victims was 27-year-old Officer Roy Lee Stanley. The last communication from the officers indicated they had stopped a truck; they were later shot, their bodies placed in a patrol vehicle, and the vehicle driven to a remote area known as Copper Canyon near Lake Powell in Utah, where it was set on fire.

On the morning of December 5, 1987 passersby discovered two smoldering police vans at the bottom of the canyon and found the burned remains of the officers inside one. A multi-agency investigation followed, and four Navajo men — Thomas Cly, Vinton Bedonie, Ben Atene, Jr., and Marques Atene — were indicted on two counts of first-degree murder. Witnesses at a bonfire party that night testified they saw the defendants overpower the officers, transport them to Copper Canyon, and set the vehicle ablaze. A jury found Thomas Cly and Vinton Bedonie guilty on all counts and they were sentenced to life in prison.

Does anyone have memories of the area or the events that night that could add detail to the timeline?