Hunsaker pleads guilty in death of MFHS grad Naomi Chaney
By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor
The Highlander
A man accused of participating in the slaying of a former Miss Aqua Boom was scheduled to be sentenced last week for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and tampering with evidence in a capital felony.
Albert Gene Hunsaker II's plea bargain in a Taos County, New Mexico, court helped him avoid a conviction on a first-degree murder charge as prosecutors agreed to drop capital murder charges against him in exchange for his acceptance of lesser charges.
Hunsaker appeared in District Judge Sarah Backus' court for sentencing Monday, June 5, after pleading guilty March 10 to counts two and three in the indictment against him. Because Hunsaker was found to have prior convictions, including a 2012 conviction in Wisconsin for felony bail jumping, he was sentenced to 60 days confinement at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility until a pre-sentencing diagnostic evaluation could be completed.
Hunsaker was accused of helping another man, Clayton Vincent Jones, kill Marble Falls High School graduate Naomi Ruth Chaney on Jan. 30, 2016, in Two Peaks near Taos.
He confessed to helping Jones wrap a winch wire around Chaney's neck and dragging her behind a vehicle. Hunsaker and Chaney then disposed of her body in sagebrush in a ditch near the Petaca River.
Hunsaker was interviewed by New Mexico police last May and told investigators he had been having a sexual relationship with Chaney despite being married to another woman. He said Jones and Chaney picked him up at his home to go for a ride.
According to statements given by Hunsaker, the trio had been drinking on a ridge near the Petaca River when Jones assaulted Chaney. He then put a wench wire around Chaney’s neck, had Hunsaker turn on the wench and then drove through the desert, dragging the woman to death. Hunsaker claims Jones threatened to kill his family if he refused to help him kill Chaney.
The two men dumped her body along the river in some brush and left. After being arrested by police, Hunsaker tried to lead them to Chaney’s body, but they were unable to locate it.
Chaney's remains have not been located, even after an extensive search of the crime scene and its surrounding area. Because of this, Hunsaker was charged with tampering with evidence.
Chaney, who was the 1997 Miss Aqua Boom in Kingsland, served in the U.S. Marine Corps after she graduated from Marble Falls High School in 1998, earning an honorable discharge.
Jones pleaded guilty last year to killing another woman, 39-year-old Shalon Gheen, in Slab City, California, on April 29, 2016, during an argument, and to two counts of assault with a weapon for shooting at two people who tried to come to her aid.
He was sentenced Dec. 8, 2016, to an aggregate term of 37 years to life in prison, which included 25 years to life for killing Gheen, an extra 10 years for the use of a firearm to commit the crime and then an extra year each for the assault charges.
Gheen and Chaney were friends on Facebook, though it is not clear what further connection the two women had. Gheen, who also lived at one time near Taos, is not believed to have been involved in Chaney's disappearance and murder herself, but Facebook posts from Gheen herself and others indicate she may have known about Chaney's murder and Jones' alleged involvement.
Jones has not yet faced charges in New Mexico for his role in the killing of Naomi Chaney.
