FARMINGTON – Video, including body camera footage, of a Farmington Police Department homicide investigation will appear on a true crime television show this week.
The 2018 murder of Steven Begay and the investigation that followed will be the focus of the episode airing at 7 p.m. Wednesday MST, launching the second season of the Investigation Discovery channel’s series The Murder Tapes, according to Nicole Brown, spokeswoman for the Farmington Police Department.
Begay, 28, was murdered April 6, 2018, by then 17-year-old Trustin Begay around Westside Estates Park in west Farmington. Steven and Trustin were not related.
Trustin was sentenced to two years in a youth detention center after being tried and convicted as a juvenile for voluntary manslaughter in June 2019, Brown said.
The Investigation Discovery channel’s series relies on body camera footage throughout the investigation, surveillance video, interrogation room video and crime scene photos to give viewers a detailed depiction of the case. Farmington Police Department released all of the footage since the initial officer first responded to the scene of the crime. Brown said it’s one of the first times the department’s body camera footage has been used in this way.
According to the department, the network approached the Police Department in August about participating in the second season of the show. But before agreeing to participate, the department reviewed the footage and discussed the decision both internally and with Steven Begay’s family.
The Investigation Discovery channel production team spent a week in Farmington in early October 2019, conducting interviews and gathering B-roll shots around town, Brown said. The crew interviewed detectives, a crime scene technician and the crime scene responding officer Steven Boitano.
Members of the victim’s family were also interviewed for the show, and Brown emphasized the episode was created with the support of members of Steven Begay’s family, including his sister. Brown added that the department’s participation would not have continued without their support.
When first approached by the channel last year, the Police Department had a choice about what investigation to highlight. Brown said they ultimately decided on Begay’s because it was solved in under 24 hours and showcases “the good work detectives are doing every day that people may not know about.” She added, “I think that our detectives and officers did such a great job on solving this case.”
lweber@durangoherald.com
