A federal grand jury has indicted a 33-year-old mother from New Mexico on second-degree murder charges for the stabbing death of her seven-year-old daughter.
The incident occurred in their family home and falls under federal jurisdiction because both Maylene John and her daughter are enrolled members of the Navajo Nation, living in Navajo nonprofit housing.
According to court documents, the Navajo Police Department responded to an emergency call around 3 a.m. on October 24, 2022. Officers found John in her bedroom, covered in her daughter’s blood, with blood spatter evident on various parts of her body.
During the investigation, John’s brother, referred to as “K.J.” in court documents, said that everything seemed normal between John and her daughter before he went to bed the previous evening. However, around 3 a.m., he heard his niece scream for help from their shared bedroom. After forcing open the locked door, he discovered the child suffering from a stab wound to her torso. John was sitting on the bed holding a knife, and K.J. managed to disarm her.
According to John’s brother, John had a history of substance abuse and had shown sporadic suicidal tendencies over the past decade. Despite her issues, she appeared to have been recovering from drug use in the days before the murder, and she and her daughter had been interacting normally.
The day after the stabbing, John admitted to investigators that she had consumed alcohol and methamphetamine on October 23 but could not recall many details of the incident. She remembered having her blood-covered hands, face, clothes, and shoes photographed during processing, but claimed not to remember how or why her daughter ended up in her bedroom the previous evening. However, John confessed to remembering stabbing her daughter and feeling instant remorse for her actions.
John is currently being held without bond and could face life imprisonment if convicted.
