Reznet

Death of a Navajo Student

By Arthur H. Rotstein

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP)—A college freshman enrolled in a Native American scholars program accused her roommate of theft a week before she was found stabbed to death in her dorm room.

The roommate, 18-year-old Galareka Harrison, is charged with first-degree murder and appeared Thursday before a Tucson City Court judge. She was jailed in lieu of $50,000 bond.

Harrison stabbed Mia Henderson "numerous times" Wednesday while she slept, investigators said. She also forged a note from Henderson that recanted the reported theft and "mentioned ending her own life," university police officer Mario Leon said in a sworn statement.

Judge Michael Pollard entered a not guilty plea on Harrison's behalf and set her next court appearance for Sept. 17.

A Northern Arizona University student who called herself a close friend of Henderson's said that Henderson had complained earlier this week that Harrison had been going through her purse and taking things.

"So Mia was really ticked off," said the student, Lee Ann Dejolie.

Both women were residents of communities on the Navajo Indian Reservation, and both were enrolled in the university's Native American scholars program intended to help American Indians adapt to college life. Classes began less than three weeks ago.

Henderson was away from home for the first time, though she had attended a summer science program at the university. She held a prestigious tribal scholarship and planned to major in biology.

Instead, a funeral mass is planned for Monday in Gallup, N.M., with burial about 70 miles away in Sanostee, said Tuba City district spokeswoman Rosana Suetopka-Thayer.

Harrison is from Chinle, about 100 miles east near New Mexico, and wanted to become a pharmacist, her teary-eyed mother, Janice Harrison, said after the court appearance.

"She never did anything wrong," she said. "She's a real nice person. She's never been away from home. She has no record of anything like this."

Janice Harrison said her daughter also was injured Wednesday.

"I think she was protecting herself... It looks like she was trying to defend herself. She's not the kind of person who could just attack someone without reason."

University police did not acknowledge until late Thursday that officers responding to the call at the dormitory found the two women with apparent stab wounds.

Galareka Harrison has turned down all media interview requests.

The judge rejected a prosecutor's request to set bond for her at $1 million.

Deputy Public Defender Howard Wine told the judge that even a bond of $50,000 "would essentially bankrupt the entire extended family."

Harrison had been home last weekend for a Navajo rodeo event, and that she had not discussed her roommate or spoken of any problems at school, her mother said.

Arthur H. Rotstein is an Associated Press writer. AP writer Felicia Fonseca in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this report.