The Murder of Don Fluitt

On the evening of December 28, 2016 Don Fluitt had returned to his Albuquerque New Mexico home with his eleven year old daughter, Siena, after visiting his mother in California for Christmas. They apparently only made a quick stop at the home before Don would take her back to meet up with her mother, his ex-wife, Christine. But, it was said that Don apparently was suspicious that some things appeared to be out of place inside his home, including a pot with oil in it on the stove. It is unclear why Don would not have immediately called the police and reported it, but maybe he planned to after dropping off his daughter and he just never got the chance.

For her part, despite just seeing her dad Siena was a bit worried when he did not call her later that night to tell her goodnight. It was something Don did every night. When she did not hear from him again the next morning she called his work and learned he had not gone in. Two of his co-workers decided to go to his home and check on him. They would find fifty-four year old Don Fluitt dead in the garage of his home.

Don had been married twice. After his first divorce his ex-wife had moved to Oklahoma with his two children. He and his second wife, Christine had divorced in 2009. By 2016 Christine was re-married to a man named Terry White. Most of the information I found indicates that there was a “custody dispute” going on between Don and Christine at the time of his murder. But, then information also says that while there was a court hearing set for January of 2017 it was to “discuss changes in child support payments” and does not directly state that there was an issue of custody. Either way this obviously put Christine at the top of their list. However, it seemed as if she had an alibi.

One of Don's neighbors had a surveillance camera that happened to show the end of Don's driveway. Don returned to his home just before eight that night after dropping off his daughter to her mother. However, just a few minutes before his return the camera showed someone wearing a hoodie (remember, this is black and white video), deliberately knocking over Don's trash can at the end of the drive. The person then moves up the drive way and out of the frame of the camera. When Don arrived home he had pulled into the garage and then walked down the driveway to pick up the overturned trash can. He too then moves up the drive and out of range of the camera. Investigators would believe that while Don was trash can the perpetrator had gone into the garage. It was here in which it appeared that Don had been struck repeatedly with some sort of blunt object. Investigators would come to believe this was a targeted attack because there seemed to be nothing missing from inside the home.

Investigators began looking at everyone. Don's brother, Dennis, was an early suspect. It appears that the two brothers had a falling out at some point but recently Dennis had moved back to the area and according to him they were working things out. Dennis had also been one of the first people in Don's home going through things but according to Dennis he had done so mainly because there was no one else. While investigators thought he may have seemed suspicious, they really had nothing on him and decided that his behavior, while a bit odd to them was really innocent.

In the meantime authorities had to wait for some results from the evidence they had gathered. In March of 2017 they decided they had their answer and publicly named Terry White, Christine's husband, as the perpetrator and issued an arrest warrant for him. The problem was, now they could not find him, at least not right away. On April 1, 2017 Terry was arrested at a truck stop in Holbrook Arizona and charged with murder and tampering with evidence. It seems that Terry's DNA was found under Don's fingernails.

Initially Don's family did not believe that Christine was involved but at some point while he was in jail Terry allegedly told an inmate that Christine had pushed him to “do this for your family.” In June of 2017 Christine was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. She would later be released under supervision but by April of 2018 charges were dropping “pending an investigation.”

Terry White's trial began on June 11, 2018. Later that month a jury found Terry White guilty of murder, aggravated murder and tampering with evidence. He is apparently awaiting sentencing at this time and is yet to be entered into the prison system. The investigation into Christine's involvement is ongoing.