Prosecutors seek to keep pair charged in Tres Piedras killing behind bars

TAOS — Prosecutors have filed petitions to keep behind bars two alleged Army deserters arrested in the killing and dismemberment of their roommate in Tres Piedras last month.

Taos Magistrate Court judges presided Tuesday as David Degroat, 22, and Rainor Joiner, 23, made their first appearances in court. Both men are charged with first-degree murder and other felonies in the death of Matthew McLaughlin, an Army veteran from Virginia who was reported missing July 31.

According to investigators, the pair confessed to their roles in McLaughlin’s killing after being arrested on Sunday, with Joiner identifying himself as the main conspirator in the 25-year-old’s death.

For first-degree murder, the men face a potential sentence of 30 years to life in prison, Chief Magistrate Court Judge Ernest Ortega told the court Tuesday.

The 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed motions for pretrial detention this week in both cases, citing the defendants’ purported confessions, warrants for military desertion uncovered in the course of the investigation, and the “grisly, gruesome” nature of McLaughlin’s killing.

“The weight of the evidence against Defendant is overwhelming,” reads the motion filed in Joiner’s case. “Defendant confessed. Defendant provided the location of the killing and the disposed remains. The physical evidence is consistent with Defendant’s account.”

Joiner and Degroat remain jailed at the Taos County Adult Detention Center as they await hearings on the motions, which have been set for Sept. 2.

Arrests and alleged confessions

Taos County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Joiner and Degroat over the weekend during a search of the residence where the three men had lived.

According to the sheriff’s office, McLaughlin had served in the same unit with Joiner and Degroat at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. This spring, McLaughlin moved to Tres Piedras with the two men and his puppy.

According to arrest warrant affidavits filed this week, Joiner and Degroat initially denied knowledge of McLaughlin’s whereabouts when interviewed by investigators but eventually confessed they had fatally shot and then dismembered him before putting his remains in plastic bags hidden along U.S. 64.

Sheriff’s deputies say Joiner told them he had threatened to kill Degroat if he didn’t cooperate in the plot to kill McLaughlin, who Joiner had developed a grudge against.

According to the affidavit, Joiner expressed no remorse in killing McLaughlin. Deputies say he even wrote a detailed timeline of the crime that he signed and dated.

“When asked if he had any remorse, pain, or sympathy for what he had done (Joiner) was stoic in his facial expression and stated that he didn’t at all,” an investigator summarized in the affidavit.

‘A real good young man’

News of the grisly homicide has sent shockwaves around Taos County and the tiny outpost of Tres Piedras, where fewer than 1,000 people reside, according to 2023 census data.

Deborah and Gil Graves, who run the Chili Line Depot restaurant in Tres Piedras where McLaughlin had worked, were in the courtroom for Degroat’s arraignment Tuesday.

“Matt was a real good young man,” Deborah Graves said. “He would do almost anything for anybody — worked hard, took care of (Degroat), who was chronically unemployed. (McLaughlin) brought him all of his meals and drinks. It’s just hard to wrap our brains around how (Degroat) could kill his best friend.”

The night before he disappeared, Graves said McLaughlin had helped their son move new freezer doors into the restaurant. “They had to dismantle doors, and they worked until dark,” she said. “Matt went home, and we never saw him again.”

Kayla McLaughlin, the 25-year-old’s sister-in-law, said Tuesday that the McLaughlin family would be following Degroat’s and Joiner’s cases closely as they move through the courts.

“I’ve known (McLaughlin) for years, and even if there’s bad about somebody, he always keeps his mouth shut. He always talks good about people. He has never, ever talked bad about anyone. He is a really good person.”