A 27-year-old New York City mother fought for her life after a convicted felon allegedly slashed her throat with a pocketknife and attempted to drag her away during a birthday hike on Arizona's remote Havasupai Reservation.
Alexis Rowan was nearing the end of a 10-mile trek through the Grand Canyon region on August 12 when she stopped in the village of Supai to ask 29-year-old Taylor Nardo Paya for directions to a local gift shop.
Rowan had briefly become separated from a friend walking ahead of her when she encountered Paya, a member of the Havasupai Tribe. She said he initially appeared to help her before launching an unprovoked attack from behind as she walked away toward the store.
"I didn't think anything of it, it was the first person that I've seen in the village," Rowan told ABC7 New York. "And I said, 'Hey, excuse me, is that the gift shop?'"
Rowan recalled that she quickly became uneasy during the brief exchange but kept walking toward the store entrance.
"I kept walking, I went to go in and that's when he just came up from behind," Rowan said. "And as soon as I felt my neck, I'm like, 'Oh my God, I'm going to die.'"
The mother of two said thoughts of her children gave her the determination to fight back as Paya allegedly punched her repeatedly and tried to drag her away.
"I was like, 'Oh my God, my neck. I can't die like this, this is not the way,'" Rowan recalled. "And I was like, 'I have my kids to go home to.'"
Ring-camera footage captured near the gift shop showed the violent struggle, depicting Paya attempting to drag Rowan away after she fell to the ground. According to an FBI affidavit cited by ABC15, Paya slashed Rowan across the neck and wrist with a pocketknife, leaving a wound several centimeters long across her neck and inflicting injuries on her left hand.
Rowan required 10 stitches in her neck and three in her left hand following the assault.
Her mother, Tricia Rowan, described the assault as an entirely unprovoked attack that almost claimed her daughter's life, stating that the assailant pulled Rowan's hair, threw her to the ground, and repeatedly struck her.
"This was a vicious, violent UNPROVOKED attack that almost took my daughter's life!" Tricia wrote in a Havasupai Falls Facebook group on August 15. "Taylor Paya slit her throat, punched her repeatedly, pulled her hair, threw her to the ground and tried dragging her to who knows where! Thankfully my daughter is a warrior and FOUGHT for HER LIFE! Screaming for help and begging for her life!"
A nearby female resident heard Rowan's screams and opened her door, allowing the wounded hiker to escape inside. The resident provided initial first aid to Rowan before professional medical treatment could be administered.
"I'm just so grateful for the woman that opened the door that heard her screams, it's something you can never unhear," Tricia told ABC7. "And she's a fighter. She fought to make sure she's coming home to her babies, and she's my baby. So I'm so glad she made it."
Tricia told FOX 10 Phoenix that her daughter remains deeply traumatized despite recovering from her physical injuries. "All she kept saying is, 'I feel like this isn't even real life, like it's a dream, it's a nightmare I haven't even woken up from,'" her mother said.
Havasupai Reservation background
The Havasupai Reservation is located in a remote side canyon of the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, accessible primarily by foot, mule, or helicopter. Rowan had traveled across the country and spent hundreds of dollars on permits for what was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime visit to the reservation and its famous turquoise waterfalls.
Investigation and arrest
During the struggle, Rowan's cellphone fell from her backpack and was allegedly taken by Paya. Reservation police used the device's location tracking to trace Paya to a nearby home, according to the FBI affidavit.
ABC15 reported that the reservation's only officer on duty went to the property, but Paya allegedly slammed the door when the officer arrived. Authorities obtained a warrant and arrested him the following day, placing him in federal custody.
Federal charges and legal proceedings
Because the alleged attack occurred on tribal land, federal authorities hold jurisdiction over major crimes in Indian country. Paya has been charged federally with assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian country, and his case is being handled in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
A federal court calendar listed a detention and status hearing concerning a preliminary hearing in the case, though a published outcome was not immediately available. Publicly available reports indicate Paya has not yet entered a plea to the current charge.
Previous conviction and public warnings
Court records reviewed by FOX 10 state that Paya was previously convicted of robbing and assaulting another woman on the Havasupai Reservation in December 2015. In that case, Paya confronted the woman outside the home where she was staying, tore off several layers of her clothing, threw her to the ground, and punched her in the face and side.
Paya pleaded guilty to robbery in September 2016. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona said he was sentenced that December to five years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, with court records indicating he was ordered to undergo sex-offender treatment and counseling. The prior case was investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
"He's clearly a threat to society, and he's proven it time and time again," Tricia told FOX 10. She said she decided to publicize her daughter's ordeal to warn other visitors and press for improved safety measures on the reservation. "For the hundreds of thousands of people who hike those trails, you don't have to be a woman," Tricia told ABC15. "Although he was a predator on women, it could be anyone."
Despite her criticism of the alleged attacker and the response resources available, Tricia stressed that her family had received considerable kindness from other members of the Havasupai Tribe, particularly thanking the woman who sheltered Rowan and treated her injuries immediately after the attack. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona, the FBI, the Havasupai Tribe, and Paya's attorney have been contacted for comment.
