Man sentenced for decapitating friend with ax and leaving head in wood stove

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (TCD) — A 30-year-old North Dakota man will spend 35 years behind bars for fatally striking one person with a metal iron and decapitating another within the exterior boundaries of Navajo Nation in 2021.

According to a Nov. 28 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, a judge handed Shilo Aaron Oldrock the sentence in connection with the deaths of two victims, who were only identified as E.B and P.S.

Oldrock, a member of the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, pleaded guilty in federal court in August to second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.

On the night of Jan. 29, 2021, P.S. and E.B. reportedly got into a fight while they were drinking alcohol and using methamphetamine with Oldrock. The attorney’s office said P.S. sustained an injury during the dispute, and Oldrock didn’t render aid. Instead, as a way to “finish off” P.S., Oldrock fatally struck P.S. in the head with a metal iron. He later burned the remains in a barrel to cover up the death.

P.S.’s family located his abandoned vehicle and reported him missing. The FBI added P.S. to their List of Native Americans Verified as Missing Throughout New Mexico and the Navajo Nation, and for the next two years, his family searched for him.

According to the attorney’s office, in mid-October 2021, “driven by paranoia from the killing of P.S. and the death of Oldrock’s grandmother,” Oldrock stabbed E.B. approximately 22 times and decapitated him with an ax. Oldrock then threw the head into a wood stove inside the victim’s home.

According to a criminal complaint, on the day of E.B.’s death, Oldrock waved down a ride from someone and asked them to take him to the flea market where his mother worked. The witness told authorities that Oldrock had a “black eye, cuts on his face, blood on his hands, and blood on his clothes.”

During the drive, Oldrock reportedly admitted to the witness that he had killed E.B., “chopped off” his head, and “threw his head in the wood stove.” The complaint alleges that Oldrock said he was angry with E.B. because he believed he had killed Oldrock’s uncle and “threw Oldrock’s mother to the ground.” Additionally, Oldrock reportedly told the witness, “What comes around, goes around.”

Investigators recovered evidence at the scene, including a 4-foot ax and a “charred human head” from the wood stove.

According to the attorney’s office, Oldrock eventually confessed to law enforcement that he had killed E.B. and P.S.

U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez said in a statement, “It is our solemn duty to bring justice and answers to grieving Tribal communities.”

Uballez continued, “No amount of investigation, prosecution, or years in prison will bring back a murdered loved one. But this team of local, tribal, and federal law enforcement partners will meet the case of each missing and murdered Indigenous person with urgency, transparency, and coordination.”

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