Driver Held on $1.5M Bond After Naked Interstate Carjacking
A Phoenix man faces murder charges after beating a rideshare driver and fleeing in a stolen SUV, which he later abandoned to crawl into a family's truck.
By Ana Castro ·
A Maricopa County judge ordered Samuel Caleb Araujo Goodrick held on a $1.5 million cash-only bond following a violent assault and a cross-border carjacking spree.
The 21-year-old man is accused of beating Chadwick Stevens, a rideshare driver and warehouse co-owner, into a medically induced coma early Friday morning. Stevens was found unresponsive and covered in blood in an industrial park near Priest Drive and Elliott Road in Tempe. His black 2021 GMC Yukon was missing from the site. Medical staff at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa diagnosed him with severe facial fractures, broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and non-survivable brainstem injuries.
Investigators traced the stolen vehicle eastbound along Interstate 10 into southwestern New Mexico. Police found the Yukon abandoned and facing the wrong direction on an off-ramp in Hidalgo County, 11 miles over the state line. Inside the car, officers recovered Goodrick’s debit card, a phone, a flip-flop, and a fast-food receipt from Surprise. His passport, phone, and case had been discarded earlier near the I-10 and Elliot Road intersection.
Goodrick allegedly jumped into the bed of a pickup truck towing a travel trailer as a family merged onto the highway. He remained in the truck bed while the family drove westbound toward Arizona. Upon entering Cochise County, he reportedly shattered the rear window and climbed naked into the passenger compartment. The family pulled over near San Simon and forced him out onto the highway. New Mexico State Police and Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers detained him while he blocked traffic.
During questioning at Northern Cochise Community Hospital in Willcox, Goodrick made specific statements to detectives. When asked why police were there, he replied, “Because I killed a guy.” He later added, “I just killed a dude. I smashed his (expletive) head into the ground. I can’t believe I (expletive) did that.” He also told a state trooper immediately after being detained that he had killed someone in Arizona.
At his initial court appearance, Goodrick described a “spiritual war” and asked how long he would be a “sleepwalker.” Officers noted he became combative at the Tempe City Jail, preventing a safe search for fingerprints and DNA. Prosecutors are preparing for upgraded homicide charges as Stevens remains on life support. No formal charges have yet been filed in New Mexico.
The court imposed strict electronic monitoring and curfew conditions if Goodrick is released. Investigators have not disclosed a motive for the assault or whether Goodrick was riding as Stevens’ passenger. The case involves evidence from Maricopa County court records, Tempe Police documents, and New Mexico State Police statements.
