Phoenix police are asking for the public’s help in locating a white pickup truck that was last seen tailing a woman on State Route 51 moments before she was killed.
Dinya Farmer, 49, was on the phone with 911 dispatchers when she was shot in the head on Sept. 7. A transcript of Farmer’s call was released on Sept. 20, revealing the final moments of her life as she desperately sought help.
The call began with Farmer telling the operator that she was on Seventh Avenue, headed towards the freeway when she noticed a white truck pursuing her.
“They started at Broadway and Seventh Avenue following me,” she said. “They pulled up and was gonna get outta their truck and like they’re following me now on the freeway.”
She added, “They’re behind me but I don’t know what to do.”
Farmer was unable to provide the license plate of the vehicle and instead described one of the men as wearing “an Army shirt.”
The operator continued to ask questions during their exchange, and the call appeared to drop before Farmer said, “Okay, yeah, they’re right next to me.”
The sound of an unidentified noise prompted the operator to inquire about Farmer’s well-being.
“Ma‘am are you OK?” The 911 operator asked. “Ma’am?! Ma‘am?! Ma’am?! Ma‘am?! Ma’am are you still there?!”
The dispatcher tried nearly 30 times to get her attention, but Farmer never responded. The dispatcher eventually realized that Farmer’s car was the same vehicle as that involved in a reported collision.
“It’s plotting exactly where she is now,” one operator said. “Your 962 at Thomas. The shots fired at Thomas.”’
Farmer crashed into a concrete median on SR 51. She was pronounced dead shortly after being rushed to a local hospital.
Police believe Farmer was an intended target because she was followed.
“This decreases the likelihood that it was a random act. There was some sort of pre-incident contact that led to the shooting, but we have yet to determine what that was.” said Sgt. Jonathan Howard, Phoenix police spokesman, reported AZ Central.
The death has stunned Farmer’s loved ones.
“She’s very loving,” family friend Veronica Gonzalez said. “She’s got three daughters, she’s very family-oriented. It’s just unfortunate that it would pan out this way.”
Farmer’s ex-husband Lee Farmer, found its difficult to imagine her last moments on earth.
“It is just devastating for me to think that her last moments were in fear,” Farmer said. “Certainly, I wonder what the hell happened.”
Investigators are re-tracing her steps and hopes surveillance crimes along the route will lead to an arrest.
Police believe the white truck—described as having a ladder rack and a tool box—exited the freeway on Thomas Road.
Authorities don’t want residents to focus only on the small details of the truck, but to remain alert to what is happening around them.
“People can change. People can take the ladder racks off. They can take the tool box out. They can stop driving it. But that may be an indicator in itself. If you see somebody in the neighbor[hood] that has changed the appearance of a vehicle that sounds similar, those are the calls we’re looking for,” Howard said.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety received five or six 911 calls about 7:20 p.m. about a white work-type truck that had been driving aggressively, reported the Arizona Republic.
No arrests have been made.
If you have information on Farmer’s murder, contact the Phoenix Police Department Violent Crimes Bureau at 602-262-6141 or contact Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (480-948-6377) or toll-free at 800-343-TIPS.
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