Sedona AZ (May 26, 2014) – Coconino County Arizona Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested two men in connection with the homicide of David Alan Christine of Flagstaff, Arizona. Christine’s body was discovered by a motorist traveling on a dirt road near milepost 440 of Forest Service Road 505 (also known as Leupp Road) on May 21, 2014.

Later identified as Christine, the man was found lying near the roadway with a wire ligature around his neck. No vehicle was in the area nor was the body carrying any identification. After investigating the vicinity, CCSO detectives believed the man’s apparent homicide occurred elsewhere.

The United States Marshals Flagstaff Arizona Field Office assisted the CCSO investigation with an expedited finger print analysis. Armed with the victim’s identity, Flagstaff Police Department patrol officers located his vehicle, a white Plymouth Voyager minivan, abandoned behind a local motel.

Leads were developed by CCSO after many individuals were interviewed. Two of those interviewed, Gabriel Lewis, 35, a former friend of Christine, and Marvin Curley, 51, an uncle of Gabriel Lewis, raised detectives suspicions. The victim and Lewis, once friendly, had a falling out approximately a year before the murder. For that year, the victim lived in Phoenix, only recently returning to Flagstaff. Curley and Lewis had also recently moved to Flagstaff from the Williams, Arizona area. The three men were acquaintances, and all three frequented the Flagstaff Homeless shelter.

Detectives determined Curley was the last person with the victim before the discovery of his body near Leupp. Detectives also learned that the day of the murder, Christine and Curley met and began drinking together and, in the early evening hours, Curley took a length of wire, placed it around Christine’s neck, and choked him until he was dead.

Curley then drove Christine’s body out of town toward a reservation. On Forest Service 505 (Leupp Road) just shy of the reservation, Curley turned off the main road onto a side road and dumped the body. Curley then returned to Flagstaff and left the van in a motel parking lot.

CCSO detectives learned that Curley and Lewis had discussed and planned the attack on Christine. Even though Lewis was apparently not present during the homicide, perpetrator statements implicated Lewis in the crime.

On May 23, CCSO detectives booked Marvin Curley into the Coconino County Jail on First Degree Murder of David Christine. Gabriel Lewis also was booked at that time for Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder and Obstructing a Criminal Investigation.

Curley has no bond and Lewis currently has a $1,000,000.00 bond.

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