Army Deserter Sentenced to 44 Years in Killing of Veteran He Served With

A former soldier was sentenced Friday to 44 years in prison for his role in luring an Army veteran into an ambush with one other former soldier, then helping conceal his killing.

David DeGroat, 22, was sentenced in New Mexico’s 8th Judicial District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and five other counts in the July 2025 killing of Matthew McLaughlin, 25, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. All three men had previously served together. The victim had moved across the country to live with the two men later charged in his death.

His sentence, which includes a five-year firearm enhancement, followed a plea agreement that reduced an original first-degree murder charge. It will be followed by two years of parole.

The district attorney’s office, which pursued the plea agreement, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Military.com.

McLaughlin, who had recently moved to Taos County, was killed at a home the three men shared near Tres Piedras, about 30 miles northwest of Taos. The three had served in the same unit at Fort Benning, Ga.

Deputies later determined that DeGroat and his co-defendant, Rainor Joiner, each had an active warrant for desertion, according to the Taos County Sheriff’s Office.

Ambushed After a Grocery Run

Prosecutors said Joiner had grown angry with McLaughlin.

They alleged that the two men conspired to kill him. According to a statement of probable cause described by the Albuquerque Journal, DeGroat lured McLaughlin to the property on July 25, 2025, by asking him to help carry groceries up a dirt road.

Joiner then ambushed him, shooting him once with a rifle before firing additional shots with DeGroat’s handgun, the document says.

Joiner, who is charged with dismembering McLaughlin’s body, told deputies the remains were placed in bags and scattered along U.S. 64, according to the Journal’s account of the case.

McLaughlin was reported missing on July 31, 2025, and deputies detained the two men in August after searching the home.

Credit: AllenS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

DeGroat pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, assault with intent to commit a violent felony, in addition to three counts of tampering with evidence.

His attorneys had argued he acted under duress, and prosecutors have described Joiner as the driving force behind the killing.

Shooter Still Awaiting Trial

Joiner, 24, has not been sentenced and is scheduled to stand trial in December, according to the district attorney’s office.

He faces the original first-degree murder charge and, if convicted, a potential life sentence. DeGroat avoided this outcome through his plea deal.

McLaughlin’s family strongly opposed the plea deal, speaking at length at Friday’s hearing. They described the man they lost and asked that he be remembered for who he was.

“We want people to remember who Matthew is, not a victim, not some statistic,” his mother, Becky McLaughlin, said, according to the New Mexican.

His sister, Kayla McLaughlin, said her brother had trusted the men charged in his death.

“He cared about them and looked after them, and they betrayed that trust in the worst possible way,” she said.

DeGroat apologized to the family during the hearing, saying he was haunted by what happened. Members of his own family described a childhood marked by trauma and a broken home.

Joiner’s trial is expected to bring the case back to court in December, when a jury will weigh the charges against the man accused of firing the fatal shots.