Hunter Stanfield was a nineteen year old living in Arizona when he would murder his father and stepmother
According to court documents Hunter Stanfield would break into the home of his Grandparents home and stole a loaded gun. Stanfield would then walk over to his parents home, went through the back door and would fatally shoot Gail and Chase Stanfield
Hunter Stanfield would be arrested months later
Hunter Stanfield would be found guilty at trial and would be sentenced to two life sentences without parole to be served consecutively
Hunter Stanfield Case
After just over an hour of deliberations, a jury found a former Payson student guilty Thursday of murdering his parents.
Hunter Stanfield will be sentenced March 31 at 1:30 p.m. in Payson. The Gila County Attorney’s Office is expected to ask that Hunter, 21, serve a natural life sentence in prison for the murders of Chase and Gail Stanfield.
A jury Jan. 29 found Hunter guilty of two counts of first-degree murder after hearing testimony from a range of experts, family members and law enforcement officers over the course of a week. The trial was scheduled to run an additional week but concluded early after the state rested its case.
Joseph E. Collins, chief deputy county attorney, said during closing arguments that Hunter ambushed his parents and murdered them at their Whispering Pines home.
He said Hunter planned the killings and left behind a trail of evidence investigators were able to follow directly to him.
That trail began with cell phone records showing Hunter had been texting his parents around the time of the murders in October 2022. Those records also tracked Hunter’s movements from the Valley, where he was attending college on a partial football scholarship, to his parents’ Whispering Pines home.
Cell phone pings showed Hunter went to his grandparents’ home near the creek in Whispering Pines, broke in and took a loaded handgun from a desk drawer. Prosecutors said he then crossed the creek to his parents’ home on Raccoon Drive. Collins said Hunter knew that if he approached from the main street, his parents might see him through the windows, so he entered from the back sometime after 7 p.m.
Prosecutors said Hunter shot Gail Stanfield, his stepmother, multiple times, and then shot Chase Stanfield, his father, multiple times, including once in the back.
Shell casings were found in the home’s kitchen and bathroom and were matched to the murder weapon, a handgun later recovered from Hunter’s grandfather’s desk. Collins said after the shootings, Hunter broke into a nearby home he knew was vacant and waited to see whether police would arrive. Investigators later found Starburst candy wrappers inside that home. During questioning, Hunter brought up the candy wrappers before detectives mentioned finding any, prosecutors said.
Although one neighbor testified to hearing gunshots around 7:30 p.m., police were not called that night.
Prosecutors said Hunter Stanfield left the scene in Gail Stanfield’s Jeep. Gunshot residue was later found in the vehicle.
Collins said the only DNA found on the gun belonged to Hunter and his grandfather. The grandfather testified he always cleaned his guns after firing them.
Collins asked jurors to consider how the gun could have crossed the creek and returned on its own. He said it could not and that Hunter took the gun to kill his parents. Cell phone pings placed Hunter at his grandparents’ home around 7 p.m. and again at 7:57 p.m.
The last contact anyone had with Gail Stanfield was Oct. 25 around 5 p.m. She was scheduled to go to work the following day and had several appointments, but no one heard from her. On Oct. 27, Hunter’s aunt discovered the couple’s bodies in their home and called 911.
When questioned by detectives, Hunter Stanfield said he had gone to his parents’ home to pick up medical papers. Investigators testified those papers were never found.
“This was not a spur of the moment killing,” Stanfield said. “This is something he planned all day.”
Prosecutors said Hunter continued to text his parents on Oct. 26 in an effort to conceal his actions. Evidence was also presented that Hunter had been struggling academically and that his parents had cut him off financially.
Hunter’s attorney argued during closing statements that the state failed to prove Gail Stanfield missed a medical appointment on Oct. 26. The defense also noted that several neighbors were home the night of Oct. 25 and testified they did not hear gunshots. The attorney further pointed to what appeared to be a slide-bite injury on Hunter’s left hand, arguing that Hunter is right-handed.
The jury returned guilty verdicts shortly after closing arguments concluded.
Guilty verdict returned in Whispering Pines double homicide | News | paysonroundup.com
