{"id":22477,"date":"2025-04-26T18:28:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T18:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-aztec-man-arrested-in-fatal-dwi-was-facing-a-dwi-trial\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:14:10","slug":"update-aztec-man-arrested-in-fatal-dwi-was-facing-a-dwi-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-aztec-man-arrested-in-fatal-dwi-was-facing-a-dwi-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Update: Aztec man arrested in fatal DWI was facing a DWI trial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jaron
Jaron Ray Todecheeny<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

An Aztec man was already facing a DWI trial when he allegedly struck and killed two bicyclists while driving intoxicated on Navajo Route 36 early Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Jaron Ray Todecheeny, 35, faces a jury trial on May 30 after being arrested Oct. 17 on suspicion of DWI on East Blanco Boulevard in Bloomfield. At the time, his blood alcohol content was 0.196, more than double the legal limit, according to a statement of probable cause.<\/p>\n

He was also arrested in October 2021 for driving drunk with a minor in the vehicle, but a plea agreement deferred and dismissed the charge once he completed his probation.<\/p>\n

In his latest case, he allegedly struck two bicyclists with his 2006 Ford Ranger pickup around 1:45 a.m. Saturday, killing Cody Newton, 34 and Francis Matias, 54. Both died at the scene, according to the statement of probable cause.<\/p>\n

Todecheeny now faces charges including two counts of homicide by vehicle, DWI, reckless driving and driving on a revoked license with no proof of insurance or evidence of motor vehicle registration.<\/p>\n

The San Juan County District Attorney\u2019s Office has filed a pretrial detention motion to keep Todecheeny in jail. \u201cDespite being on conditions of release for DWI, (Todecheeney) has continued his dangerous behavior,\u201d the motion states.<\/p>\n

When officers from San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office arrived at the scene of the crash, then found Todecheeny leaning against his pickup and a \u201cvery strong odor of alcoholic beverage emitting from\u201d him, court records state.<\/p>\n

Todecheeny reportedly told deputies he was driving home from his job at Arizona Public Service Four Corners Power Plant and that \u201cthe headlamps on his pickup didn\u2019t work very well and the road was dark,\u201d according to the statement of probable cause.<\/p>\n

Todecheeny initially denied drinking alcohol but later said he drank \u201ctwo shooters of Cherry flavor 99 Banana\u2019s vodka prior to driving,\u201d court records state. He reportedly told sheriff\u2019s investigators he \u201cswerved\u201d into two people to avoid hitting an oncoming vehicle. He believed the people were walking and \u201cswerving.\u201d<\/p>\n

A warrant was approved by Magistrate Mark Hawkinson to determine Todecheeny\u2019s blood alcohol level. The blood draw was conducted at 4:58 a.m., about three hours after the crash, court records state.<\/p>\n

The case has been assigned to 11th Judicial District Judge Curtis Gurley.<\/p>\n

This story was updated April 28 to include details of the crash and court proceedings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Man, woman killed on roadway; DWI trial is in May for 2024 case<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77728,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22477\/revisions\/77728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22477"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}