Yavapai County News – Yavapai County Attorney Dennis McGrane announced that on February 13, 2025, a Yavapai County Jury found Terry Welfenberg, 77, of Ash Fork, Arizona, guilty of Manslaughter, Abandonment or Concealment of a Dead Body, and Tampering with Physical evidence. County Attorney McGrane commended the Ash Fork Postmaster for alerting authorities to Mr. McCabe’s disappearance, and also commended the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office for an excellent investigation. County Attorney McGrane thanked the jury for their careful attention to the facts, and commended prosecutors Matthew Polk and Casey Martin for their hard work in preparing the case for trial.
County Attorney Dennis McGrane stated, “Crimes like these shock the conscious, and will be vigorously prosecuted in Yavapai County. I hope the sentence that will be imposed in this case will deter anyone else from committing such shocking crimes as these.”
This investigation began when the Postmaster for the Ash Fork Post Office reported to the Sheriff’s Office that victim John McCabe, 65, had not picked up his mail for more than a year. In April 2023, YCSO deputies performed a welfare check at the victim’s property in the Juniper Woods area southwest of Ash Fork and found Welfenberg living on the victim’s 30-acre lot. Welfenberg told the deputies the victim allowed him to live on the lot but repeatedly denied knowing where the victim was. Welfenberg stated the victim had disappeared more than a year prior.
YCSO search and rescue volunteers scoured the victim’s lot for any sign of him. One volunteer with prior archeological experience noticed a piece of human skull a little smaller than a business card in a burn pit next to Welfenberg’s trailer. YCSO excavated the burn pit, finding additional pieces of human bone, a burned wallet with pieces of the victim’s vehicle registration still inside, and a metal medical alert bracelet with the victim’s information. The bones were so badly burnt that no DNA could be recovered, and no cause of death could be determined.
YCSO Detectives confronted Welfenberg about finding the victim’s remains in his burn pit. Welfenberg again initially denied knowing where the victim was, before finally admitting to killing the victim. Welfenberg claimed he killed the victim in self-defense, then burned the victim’s body in the burn pit.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 24, 2025, at 2:30 pm. before the Honorable Debra R. Phelan of the Yavapai County Superior Court. Welfenberg is facing a prison range of 7 to 21 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for Manslaughter, and up to 1.5 years in prison for each of the other charges.
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