Three men who were arrested in 2015 for their alleged involvement with the torture and sexual abuse of five children and the death of another in a 2005 case have been released from the Navajo County Jail after a little over two years of incarceration. According to Navajo County Attorney Brad Carlyon, the reason for their release is due to a lack of critical witnesses in the case.
Larry Triplett Sr. of Taylor, 78, Carl Kelloway of Concho, 72, and Larry Triplett Jr., 33, had an extensive list of charges in the case. Larry Triplett Sr. was charged with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child, three counts of child molestation, five counts of sexual conduct involving a minor and 19 counts of sexual assault; Kelloway was charged with first-degree murder, continual sexual abuse of a child, three counts of sexual conduct involving a minor, four counts of child molestation and 17 counts of exploitation of a minor; and Larry Triplett Jr. was charged with first-degree murder, three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, nine counts of sexual conduct involving a minor and 26 counts of sexual assault.
The case had been preparing to go to trial when Carylon, stated the witness became seriously ill and may not recover. “She’s (the witness) suffered a serious medical setback and is currently completely incapable of serving as a witness. She is the crux of almost all the evidence,” he said, adding that the evidence that was collected in the case cannot be used without her testimony.
There are still questions that remain unanswered as to how a case that was being investigated by law enforcement until 2007, was discarded until it was discovered eight years later. It was in 2015 that an evidence technician with the Holbrook Police Department was conducting an audit of the evidence room and came across an incorrectly marked box containing forensic evidence from the case. Further investigation revealed an incomplete investigation report found in a desk used by Detective Tim Dixon who was handling the case and had retired from the department in 2013.
The case included incidents of sexual abuse involving three girls who were 7, 10 and 17 years of age, and two boys who were ages 1½ and 3 at the time of the incident. Also included was the death of an unborn child of one of the victims in incidents that occurred in Holbrook, Joseph City, Snowflake and Show Low.
In response to questions regarding the case, Dixon stated that the evidence had been submitted to the County Attorney’s Office but had been rejected for lack of evidence. The County Attorney’s Office agreed that it had been submitted for review once but had been sent back to Dixon requesting more evidence. According to Dixon, the case was re-submitted again with more evidence, but there is no record at the police department or the County Attorney’s Office showing that case files were transported from one location to the other, which is a required protocol for transporting case files.
When asked if the outcome may have been different if the case had been submitted to the County Attorney’s Office in 2007, Carlyon replied, “Clearly, she didn’t have the health issues 10 years ago, but she would have been available until very recently. There’s no way to say for certain how this could have been different.”
The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it may be brought back at a future date but the likelihood is slim, leaving the victims in this case without the justice or closure that they deserve.
