Agency moves to deport suspect in Scottsdale slaying

One of two suspects facing first-degree murder charges in what Scottsdale police call a conspiracy to cash in on a $500,000 life insurance policy should have been deported to Mexico a year ago for a prior felony conviction, a U.S. Immigration official said Tuesday.

The Tribune learned Tuesday the U.S. Immigration Office in Phoenix placed a hold on Jose Quintero-Figueroa and will move to deport him after his court proceedings and potential sentencing. He is in the country only because he was able to dupe authorities into believing he was a native of United States, according to Virginia Kice, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman.

Quintero-Figueroa is being held in the Maricopa County Fourth Avenue Jail without bond on one count of first-degree murder in the death of Travis Hartline-Seffern, who was shot to death early Friday in a south Scottsdale parking lot.

“This individual has a prior criminal record that includes offenses that are grounds for deportation,” Kice said. “He was here legally, but because of his prior convictions, we lodged a detainer against him, and we will move to deport him after his court proceeding here.”

In August 2005, Quintero-Figueroa, 30, was sentenced to a year in an Arizona prison for aggravated domestic violence and a drug paraphernalia violation. When he was released on April 4, 2006, he continued to live in the United States, according to Kice and information from the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Quintero-Figueroa, who was born in Mexico but has lived most of his life in the United States, made false claims on “many occasions” about his U.S. citizenship status to officials and convinced them he was a native of this country, Kice said. However, after “dogged” research by an ICE agent working on the case, it was discovered Tuesday Quintero-Figueroa was born in Mexico, and had been subject to deportation.

Quintero-Figueroa is a green card holder, making a him a permanent legal resident of the United States. However, holders are subject to deportation if they are convicted of a felony.

A preliminary court hearing for him is scheduled for April 26 at Maricopa County Superior Court. Scottsdale police said Tuesday detectives established the conspiracy to kill Hartline-Seffern, 26, was motivated by a life insurance policy he took out about a month ago that the suspect and beneficiary John Scott Hartline-Seffern tried to collect on hours after the slaying.

Thomas Orville Bastian, 29, also was arrested on suspicion of one count of first-degree murder, and is being questioned by police concerning his knowledge of the homicide, said Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark.

“Within four days, detectives unraveled a twisted murder plot,” Clark said. “The plot kind of unraveled by starting with interviews and conversations with the suspects and what was being said when the suspects contacted each other. The four men had a relationship from prison, and when John Hartline-Seffern called the insurance company the same day trying to collect on the policy, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure things out.”

Bastian was arrested by Scottsdale police in Mesa early Saturday on an unrelated matter. Quintero-Figueroa was arrested at a Buckeye home on Monday after police executed search warrants, however, Clark would not comment on what evidence connected the men to the slaying.

Police believe John Scott Hartline-Seffern — who told officers he discovered Travis Hartline-Seffern’s body in a parking lot near Scottsdale and Thomas roads about 5:45 a.m. Friday — died shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday from what investigators believe was a self-inflicted knife wound. Officers were attempting to execute a search warrant at his Mesa residence, but John Scott Hartline-Seffern wouldn’t let them in.

Hours before his death, John Scott Hartline-Seffern, 46, told the Tribune he was Travis Hartline-Seffern’s “stepdad” when, in fact, there was no blood or marriage relation between them, according to police.

All of the men involved in the investigation established relationships as inmates in an Arizona prison, and Travis Seffern and John Hartline adopted each other’s last names in 2003, according to Maricopa County Superior Court records.

Quintero-Figueroa, 30, is believed to have shot Hartline-Seffern multiple times with a 9mm pistol. Bastian is believed to have driven Quintero-Figueroa to the location of the killing after John Scott Hartline-Seffern left the parking lot to buy coffee for himself and Travis Hartline-Seffern, Clark said.

The shooting incident was caught on surveillance video on a neighborhood payday loans business, but the footage was grainy and Clark was unsure if it revealed Quintero-Figueroa as the trigger man. However, the surveillance video aided in identifying John Scott Hartline-Seffern and Bastian as conspirators in the killling, according to police.

Police believe they have everyone in custody who is involved in the slaying, Clark said.