Authorities say Manuel Martinez suffered fatal injuries after Troy Yazzie attacked him with a construction helmet during an April argument.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — A 31-year-old man is facing a second-degree murder charge after police said an argument over $50 intended for an electric bill escalated into an attack that left his 76-year-old roommate seriously injured and ultimately dead. Troy Yazzie was arrested in Flagstaff nearly three months after the April 30 confrontation with Manuel Martinez at their Phoenix home.

The murder allegation followed a case that began not as a homicide investigation, but with a 911 call from the injured Martinez. Police and court-document accounts say Martinez told authorities he had given Yazzie $50 to pay the household electric bill. When the bill remained unpaid, Martinez wanted the money returned. Investigators allege the disagreement turned violent, with Yazzie punching Martinez and striking him with a white construction helmet. Martinez survived the initial attack long enough to describe what happened to officers before being taken for emergency medical care.

Police were called shortly before 10:30 p.m. April 30 to an apartment complex in the area of 2400 West Hazelwood Street, according to a Phoenix police account reported by the Arizona Daily Independent and KTAR. Martinez was the caller. When officers arrived, Yazzie was already gone, authorities said. Officers found Martinez with injuries to his face and head and obtained a statement from him at the scene. An account based on court records said Martinez was bleeding from his nose and had blood on his shirt when officers encountered him.

The dispute itself, investigators say, centered on a small but specific sum of money. Martinez told police that he had entrusted Yazzie with $50 for their electric bill. According to an arrest affidavit cited by Law&Crime, Martinez said the bill was not paid and he asked for the money back. The affidavit alleges that Yazzie became angry and struck Martinez multiple times in the face with the construction helmet. The allegation remains part of a pending criminal case, and the charge does not establish Yazzie’s guilt.

The 911 call became another part of the investigative record. Court documents cited by Law&Crime say dispatchers could hear a male voice in the background asking Martinez whether he was calling police. That detail placed another person close to Martinez while he was reporting the incident, although public reports do not establish independently who made the statement. By the time responding officers reached the apartment complex, police said Yazzie had fled, leaving Martinez to give investigators his account of the confrontation without his roommate present.

Martinez’s injuries required extensive medical treatment. Reporting based on court documents described multiple facial fractures and bleeding around the brain, while AZFamily reported that a CT scan showed facial fractures severe enough to require surgery. Martinez remained under medical care after the attack and was later transferred to a rehabilitation facility. His course after the assault stretched across several weeks, turning what began as an aggravated-assault investigation into a far more serious case as his health deteriorated.

Accounts differ on the precise date Martinez died. Phoenix police information carried by KTAR and the Arizona Daily Independent says he died July 11 after his condition worsened. AZFamily, citing court documents, reported a July 15 death date. Both accounts agree on the central finding relevant to the criminal case: authorities attributed Martinez’s death to complications associated with blunt-force injuries from the April assault. Because the available reports conflict on the date, that discrepancy remains unresolved in the public material reviewed for this article.

Once Martinez died, the investigation moved to the Phoenix Police Department’s Violent Crimes Bureau Homicide Unit. Detectives developed probable cause to seek Yazzie in connection with the death, according to the police account. Investigators learned that he had gone to Flagstaff, more than 140 miles north of Phoenix. Court-document reporting said a probation officer also provided information that helped authorities determine Yazzie was in the Flagstaff area and intended to live there with his mother.

The Flagstaff Police Department took Yazzie into custody July 28, police said. Phoenix officers later traveled north to transport him back to the Phoenix area. That arrest came almost three months after the confrontation at the apartment. Investigators had continued working the case while Martinez moved through hospital and rehabilitation care, and the legal stakes changed after medical authorities linked his death to the injuries police say he suffered on April 30.

Investigators also questioned Yazzie after his arrest. AZFamily, citing court documents, reported that Yazzie acknowledged punching Martinez and striking him with his construction helmet. Law&Crime reported that the arrest affidavit said Yazzie did not claim that he acted in self-defense. The affidavit further described Yazzie as acknowledging Martinez’s age and recognizing that striking an older person could cause serious injury or death. Those statements are allegations contained in the investigative record and would be subject to the rules governing evidence if the case proceeds in court.

The construction helmet itself also became part of the case described in public reporting. An account drawing on court documents said police recovered a hard hat outside the apartment complex the day after the confrontation. Authorities have alleged that a white construction helmet was used during the assault. Publicly available reports do not detail any forensic testing performed on the item or specify what results, if any, were obtained, so the significance of the recovered object beyond the allegations in court records has not been independently established.

Yazzie was booked on one count of second-degree murder and was initially held on a $1 million bond, according to multiple reports. Arizona law defines second-degree murder, without premeditation, to include intentionally causing another person’s death, knowingly engaging in conduct that causes death or serious physical injury and results in death, or recklessly creating a grave risk of death under circumstances showing extreme indifference to human life. The statute classifies second-degree murder as a Class 1 felony. Prosecutors would still have to prove the elements of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

The public record also underscores the difference between what police allege and what has been established in court. Martinez’s own account, the 911 recording, medical records, the recovered helmet, statements attributed to Yazzie and the circumstances of his departure from Phoenix could all become relevant pieces of evidence, but their admissibility, weight and interpretation are matters for the legal process. Available reporting did not establish that a jury had evaluated the evidence or that Yazzie had been convicted in connection with Martinez’s death.

The case now centers on whether prosecutors can prove that the April 30 assault caused Martinez’s death and meets Arizona’s legal standard for second-degree murder. Public reports reviewed through Sept. 8 did not provide a reliably confirmed later disposition of the homicide charge, and no final judgment was identified. Yazzie therefore remains an accused defendant, while Martinez’s death is the basis of the homicide case that grew out of the initial 911 call and assault investigation.

Author note: Last updated September 8, 2026.