Navajo Nation refuses to turn over suspect

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The Navajo Nation has refused to turn over a teenager suspected of killing a Catholic nun to U.S. authorities without an extradition request or court order.

FBI agents left empty-handed Monday after a court hearing in Window Rock, Ariz., KRQE-TV in Albuquerque reported. Reehahlio Carroll, 18, was arrested last week by tribal police after being stopped for a traffic violation and is named in a federal warrant as the killer of Sister Margaret Bartz, who was found dead in her home in Navajo, N.M., on Nov. 1.

The Navajo Nation, the largest Indian territory in the United States, straddles the borders of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. It has its own local government, police and courts.

"My job is to the Navajo nation," Bernardine Martin, the chief prosecutor, said. "My oath is to the Navajo nation law; my oath is to the government; my oath is to the people. It's not to the federal government."

Bartz was buried Saturday on a hillside overlooking St. Michael Indian School in St. Michael, Ariz., after a funeral mass in the cathedral in Gallup, N.M., the Gallup Independent reported. Hundreds of people attended, many of them wearing handcrafted mourning ribbons.