Overview
- Detectives testified Tuesday to a Navajo County grand jury, which returned an indictment and led to a Superior Court arrest warrant.
- Michael Abatti, 63, was taken into custody in El Centro around 3:20 p.m. and booked on a first-degree murder charge.
- Investigators say evidence seized under Dec. 2 search warrants on Abatti family properties, vehicles, and camp trailers in El Centro helped identify him as the suspect.
- The multi-state team reports evidence indicating he traveled from California to Pinetop on Nov. 20, is believed to have shot and killed Kerri Ann Abatti, and then returned to California.
- Court records show the couple had been in a contentious divorce and spousal-support dispute after Kerri moved from El Centro to Pinetop in 2023.