Arrest made in connection with murder of Navajo Nation woman

Tuesday, December 4, 2018  

Amanda Dakota Webster, a 26-year-old mother of three from the Navajo Nation, was murdered in Kentucky on December 1.

Authorities found Webster in a hotel room in Florence and deemed her death to be suspicious, according to a press release. They quickly centered their search on a man named Jesse A. James, 32, who has since been arrested on charges of murder and tampering with evidence.

Webster had traveled to Kentucky to work and raise money for her family, according to her best friend, who has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to take her body back home to the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation. The pair were employed in the construction industry, the friend said.

On the GoFundMe page and in posts on social media, the friend, who is also Navajo, said Webster did not know James. The women were staying at the same hotel, the Home 2 Suites in Florence, as the suspect.

According to The Navajo Times, police have surveillance video from the hotel showing James luring Webster to his hotel room. She was stabbed to death.

"He brutally murdered her, stabbing her multiple times," the friend wrote on social media.

Funeral services are scheduled to take place in Flagstaff on Friday afternoon. Webster is set to be laid to rest at the Citizens Cemetery there.

Florence Hotel Murder Suspect Pleads Not Guilty (Eagle Country 99.3 December 4, 2018)
Diné woman killed in Kentucky, suspect arrested (The Navajo Times December 3, 2018)
Mom-of-3 Found Dead in Kentucky Hotel Room, Suspect Arrested After ‘Acting Strangely’ in Theater (People December 3, 2018)
Judge enters not guilty plea for man accused of killing a mom in hotel room (WCPO December 3, 2018)
Arizona woman slain in Florence hotel room was mother of three (WCPO December 2, 2018)
Police say he murdered a woman in a Florence hotel room and then went to the movies. (The Lexington Herald-Leader December 2, 2018)