Arizona man found guilty of manslaughter after human remains recovered

YAVAPAI COUNTY, Ariz. — A Yavapai County jury has recently convicted a man of manslaughter after he was found living on the property of a missing Ash Fork resident.

Terry Welfenberg, 77, was convicted of manslaughter, abandoning a body and tampering evidence after the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office located human remains in a fire pit located on a lot belonging to John McCabe, according to the county attorney’s office.

YCSO was contacted by the Ash Fork post office after McCabe had failed to collect his mail for more than a year.

A deputy was dispatched to McCabe’s property in April 2023 to conduct a welfare check and found Welfenberg living on the land. Welfenberg allegedly told YCSO that McCabe granted him permission to be living there and denied knowing McCabe’s whereabouts.

YCSO led a search of the property and pieces of human bone were found in a fire pit along with a burned wallet containing the remnants of McCabe’s vehicle registration.

Welfenberg later told YCSO he killed the victim, claiming he had acted in “self-defense” and then burned McCabe’s body.

The defendant will be sentenced on March 24 and faces over 20 years in prison.

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