Background: Rainor Joiner is seen in footage allegedly showing New Mexico officers the location where he and Matthew McLaughlin disposed of the dismembered remains of their former Army roommate, David Degroat, according to law enforcement officials (KOB/YouTube). Left inset: Image of Rainor Joiner (Taos County Adult Detention Center). Center inset: Picture of Matthew McLaughlin (The AWARE Foundation/Facebook). Right inset: Photo of David Degroat (Taos County Adult Detention Center).
A newly surfaced video reveals a New Mexico man’s alleged involvement in the murder and dismemberment of a U.S. Army veteran, who served alongside him. With assistance from another Army associate, he purportedly guided police to the site where the victim’s body parts were discarded, police report.
“If it’s not [there], I assume animals got to it,” 23-year-old Rainor Joiner can supposedly be heard saying in a video, acquired by local NBC affiliate KOB, recorded in the police car he was traveling in. “That is definitely the spot.”
Joiner, along with fellow Army companion David Degroat, 22, are charged with the murder of their roommate, Matthew McLaughlin, 25, in Taos County. They allegedly dispersed his body parts across “several locations” along U.S. 64 near Tres Piedras, as per local authorities.
Joiner can be heard talking to cops in the footage obtained by KOB about what they allegedly found, per the station.
“The head and hands, are they with the head, or no?” a cop asks him.
“Yes, all that’s together. All the important, like, identifiers are together,” Joiner reportedly states. “It should be his arm, what I cut from his arms, legs and torso. … The whole body.”
Joiner allegedly adds, “The head and hands were in a trash bag that were then put inside a Harbor Freight f–king bucket.”
Originally from West Virginia, McLaughlin was declared missing on July 31. In response, New Mexico law enforcement and a Virginia-based organization, The AWARE Foundation, initiated a search while police launched a missing persons investigation.
On Aug. 17, deputies detained Joiner and Degroat for questioning. They learned that the three men had served together at Fort Benning in Georgia and were living together in New Mexico, according to a Taos County Sheriff’s Office press release. Joiner and Degroat allegedly deserted and had active military warrants for their arrests at the time of McLaughlin’s disappearance. McLaughlin is described by police as an “Army veteran.”
During police questioning, Joiner allegedly admitted to shooting McLaughlin, “and with the help of Degroat, dismembering him and disposing of the body parts,” according to the sheriff’s office. “Joiner led deputies to these areas where they recovered several plastic bags just as Joiner described,” the press release says. “The bags contained human remains and were turned over to the Office of the Medical Investigator.”
Both Joiner and Degroat were promptly taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder and “other violent felonies,” according to police.
Court documents obtained by KOB say Joiner allegedly told investigators that McLaughlin was a bad roommate who started rumors about him, was using drugs regularly, and was bringing people to the residence that Joiner and Degroat didn’t know. The two men allegedly ambushed McLaughlin on July 25 and shot him dead, according to the court documents.
“[Joiner] admitted he shot the individual with a rifle and then again with a pistol, then, subsequent days later, he continued to dismember the victim,” TCSO Undersheriff Gabriel Ortiz told local ABC affiliate KOAT. “The individual was very much non-remorseful. No emotions, just a kind of blank face and told them [deputies] exactly what he did and didn’t have any emotions at all.”
