Roommate held in UA slaying

Her roommate this fall, freshman business student Galareka Harrison, also hailed from the Navajo Nation, where she, too, was a standout athlete, especially in rodeo roping.

As part of a small but growing number of American Indian students at the University of Arizona, the two teens had been placed together in a dormitory program meant to help Indians succeed on a big-city campus.

On Wednesday morning, screams pierced the air at that dormitory, Graham-Greenlee Residence Hall. When UA police got there shortly after 5:45 a.m. they found both women with apparent stab wounds after a fight.

Henderson — the granddaughter of a former tribal vice chairman — died at a hospital.

And by afternoon, Harrison, also 18, was in police custody after being released from a hospital, and was booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Police said a weapon was recovered, but they would not say what type.

"You don't think anything like this would happen to us, especially between two Native students and Native girls," said Heidi Dugi, 22, a senior at the UA majoring in public health and another member of the Navajo Nation. She spoke as shocked and grieving students tried to comfort each other.

"Why would one want to hurt the other?" she asked.

There were clues.

Just about 14 hours before the slaying, at 3:40 p.m. Tuesday, Henderson had written to a friend on MySpace, the Internet social networking site, saying, "yea . . . i've had more problems surface today with my roommate . . . geez she almost sucked my purse dry. anywho," she added, "you have a nice week."

Henderson had accused her roommate of property theft late last month, said University Police Chief Anthony Daykin, though he stopped short of saying that prompted the conflict.

The theft report was filed with the UA Police Department on Aug. 28. Details of the case were not released Wednesday because it's connected to another property theft investigation.

Daykin said only that Henderson was a property-crime victim and that her roommate was an investigative lead.

Henderson moved out of the dorm and was offered alternative living arrangements by the UA, but sometime before Wednesday she returned to Graham-Greenlee.

Neither roommate gave any sign that violence could erupt, Daykin said.

There is no indication that Henderson and Harrison knew each other before moving in together, said Sgt. Eugene Mejia, a UA police spokesman. He would not discuss the motive for the fight or say who started it.

The two were from different towns on the vast Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona, Henderson from Tuba City and Harrison from the Chinle area. Web sites indicate Harrison had been a student athlete in Many Farms near Chinle.

Cissimarie Juan, a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation in Tucson, met Henderson last summer. The pair roomed together while participating in a 2006 summer program at UA, and they kept in contact.

Juan learned of Henderson's death from a mutual friend just after 11 a.m. Wednesday, a few minutes after she posted a note on Henderson's MySpace page consoling her about her roommate "stealing ... idenity(sic) and money.. I mean.. come on!!"

Juan would not discuss what was stolen from Henderson beyond saying it was cash and possessions.

"She was the sweetest girl you would ever meet," Juan, a student at Pima Community College, said Wednesday afternoon, choking back sobs.

Just this May, a glowing Henderson had posed for a celebratory photo at her graduation from Tuba City High School, while hugging her grandfather, prominent tribal leader Johnny R. Thompson.

She had already been chosen as a student researcher through a National Institutes of Health program, worked with UA Professor Murray Brilliant, an expert in human genetic disease, and been named to an all-area softball team as a third baseman for the Tuba City Lady Warriors.

Attempts to reach Henderson's family were unsuccessful Wednesday. Her relatives had asked school officials to limit their comments to the media, said Adelbert Goldtooth, a spokesman for the Tuba City Unified School District.

"She was one of our best students and one of those students we thought was going places with her academics and athletics," Goldtooth said.

About 200 friends, parents and teammates gathered on Tuba City High School's athletic field Wednesday night to mourn. Henderson had played softball on that field.

"I just want everybody to know that she was a beautiful person. She would never do anything to hurt anyone," said D. Glasgow, a family friend.

Some of Henderson's friends drove up from the UA in Tucson to attend the vigil.

A friend described the last night he saw Henderson, Tuesday, when she went running and then said she had to study.

She had prodded others to go to college. She had an infectious laugh, the friend said.

He began to sob, speaking to the crowd by microphone. "The hardest part was having to tell her parents," he said.

Those who spoke mentioned her spirituality, with one person quoting her father as saying, "The Lord has this in his hands."

Other parents spoke of the fear of sending kids away from home, always hoping they'll come back safe.

Softball teammates chanted "Princess Mia," their name for Henderson.

Brittany Clark, a Page High School senior, had played with Henderson last summer in softball tournaments in Denver and California.

A favorite memory of Clark's was a dance performed by teammates when Henderson got a hit. "She had a signature move, the crab dance," Clark said. "It was a lot of fun being with her."

Henderson, a freshman biology major, was interested in a career in medicine, said Marlys Witte, a UA professor of surgery. During summer 2006, Henderson participated in a summer program run by Witte in which she conducted medical research and worked with the faculty in genetics, Witte said.

She said Henderson was also interested in sports medicine; while in Tuba City, a church friend said Henderson also talked of becoming a dentist.

"She was very industrious, wonderful and bright," Witte said. "It's a terrible tragedy."

Students outside the residence hall said they found out early Wednesday from their resident assistants that a stabbing occurred on the second floor.

Andrew Yazza, an 18-year-old freshman, said that he went to sleep about 3 a.m. and awoke two hours later to the sound of screams. He walked out of his dorm to see what was going on as the screams grew louder.

"There was a lot of people around, and I could see a girl on the floor covered in blood," he said. "She kept yelling and screaming."

Yazza said he didn't know the students involved in the fight.

Loveina Begaye said she knew Henderson from high school, where Henderson graduated with honors. She said she was shocked to hear that Henderson was involved in such a violent situation.

Both lived in the Graham-Greenlee dorms in rooms set aside for the UA's Native American Young Scholars program. The program has about 60 participants, said the UA's Melissa Vito, the vice provost for student affairs and dean of students.

Mejia, the UA police spokesman, said this was the first time in his seven years on campus that a fight between roommates turned deadly.

The last on-campus homicide was on Oct. 28, 2002, Mejia said, when a gunman killed three nursing school professors before killing himself.

Marissa Johnson, 18, said she tried to leave Graham-Greenlee about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday for class but found her way blocked by yellow crime-scene tape. She feels "less safe every day that I've been here," she said.

Another Graham-Greenlee resident, freshman Eddie Tracy, 18, said recent events were alarming but the UA does a lot to keep students safe.

News of Henderson's death had spread by Wednesday afternoon, when many friends began posting notes on her MySpace page.

"Hey sis, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you," wrote someone called Dallas 07. "truly I would have took it for you. .. I love you so much.... I'm sorry."

Watch a video and slide show about Wednesday's homicide at UA at www.azstarnet.com/crime