An Arizona couple is accused of killing a registered sex offender and leaving his body in the desert after discovering his criminal record.
Jacob Middlebrook and his girlfriend, Layne McIntosh, face charges of first-degree murder, vehicle theft, and abandoning or concealing a body. Court records do not indicate that either defendant has entered a plea, and Oxygen was unable to determine whether they have attorneys.
On Nov. 7, a passing motorist found Arron Christopher Warren’s lifeless body, which had been brutally stabbed, along a remote road in the Mojave Desert, Bullhead City police said.
Later that day, authorities in Las Vegas located Warren’s vehicle at a casino in Laughlin, Nevada.
Middlebrook and McIntosh were subsequently arrested, though investigators have not publicly explained what evidence connected the pair to the killing. As of Nov. 9, both were awaiting extradition to Arizona.
Police said the couple, who were transient, had known Warren for several months. Warren was a registered sex offender following a conviction for attempted sexual misconduct involving a minor.
According to a Bullhead City Police Department Facebook update, detectives learned that Middlebrook and McIntosh had expressed hostility toward registered sex offenders and allegedly planned the killing ahead of time. “The couple reportedly pre-determined the desert location where they intended to leave Warren’s body,” police said. Investigators also said the pair reportedly measured furniture or beds that might have been large enough to conceal the body beside the road.
Police Chief Paul George explained that the couple may have learned about Warren’s 2022 conviction through community notifications about Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders living in the area.
“While required notifications are mailed to residents living within an approximate 1,000 feet radius of an offender’s registered address,” George said in a press release, “we go a step further by sharing these notifications on social media to reach a broader audience.”
George also cautioned residents against taking the law into their own hands.
“Our goal is to provide information, not create fear or alarm. We believe an informed community is a safer community,” he said. “However, we want to be clear that we will not tolerate anyone using this information as a reason to threaten, intimidate, harass or harm another person.”