Suspect arrested after Phoenix car sale turns deadly, police say

PHOENIX - Phoenix police arrested a suspected killer after a car sale turned deadly.

Officers found the body of 27-year-old David Navidad-Parra, a U.S. Army Captain, lying on the ground near 43rd Avenue and McDowell at around 9:15 p.m. on Dec. 16. He had been shot to death.

The 27-year-old had been reported missing earlier that night after he was last seen giving a man a test drive of his vehicle during a car sale, police said.

Meanwhile, Glendale first responders responded to a car fire near 91st Avenue and Rose Lane early Saturday morning.

"Preliminary information suggests the found vehicle was involved in the homicide investigation," police said.

On Dec. 18, Phoenix Police announced that 29-year-old Abel Uribe was arrested in connection to Navidad-Parra's murder.

Uribe faces first-degree murder and kidnapping charges.

"I’m extremely saddened to learn of the murder of David Navidad-Parra. Our office got to know David a few years ago, and we proudly nominated him to attend West Point. My thoughts are with David’s family during this tragic time," said Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego.

Phil Krynsky with the Phoenix Police Department says there's always a risk when selling because you don't know who you're speaking with.

"Transactions are always going on, it doesn't matter the time of the year. You should always keep your guard up and make sure you put multiple barriers up to prevent this type of activity from happening," he said.

If you're going to meet someone to do a sale, he recommends meeting in public places to keep yourself in the public eye.

"Of course, you are always welcome to the parking lots of maybe the police departments. There are also areas that convenience stores have cameras, that people like to make these transactions at because there are a lot of surveillance cameras," he said.

Krysnsky says if you have a problem communicating with the buyer, that's probably a telltale sign that something's wrong.

"People take those multiple precautions. Having good communication with the type of person, sometimes even looking at their profile. If it's someone who has had multiple transactions, again, that is usually a better sign that this person is legitimately trying to make a deal," Krynsky said.

Witnesses saw burning car

"The fire department was having a really hard time putting out the flames. It looked like obviously the car was tampered with because normally fires go out pretty easy, but this one looked like it was pretty hard to fight," said a neighbor named Kyle.

He says he stood outside his house and took video of the car engulfed in flames around 4 a.m. Saturday.

"When I heard a noise, it sounded like a popping sound. I stepped out just to make sure somebody wasn’t fumbling in the back of my truck," he said.

Other neighbors say they saw the car pull up late Friday night and they saw someone sitting inside it for hours.

"We even heard an alarm going off, but we didn’t think anything of it because there’s always cars parking down here, so we didn’t think anything of it," a neighbor said.

She says she didn’t call police last night, but she wishes she did, after discovering that Phoenix Police and Glendale Police believe the homicide and the burning vehicle are intertwined.

"My son just saw somebody walking in the field and my other son saw him get out. They don’t know who it was. They couldn’t see anything. It was really dark," she said.

Family and friends were mourning and placing candles and flowers in Navidad-Parra's memory where he's suspected to have died.

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