There, these partners find further clues indicating that the murderer may be a 'skinwalker,' a Navajo witch with the power to shape shift, or change from human to animal, move with lightning speed, and to kill with curses. A local archeologist holds the key to the symbols he left behind, so Chee and Leaphorn pay him a visit at a nearby Anasazi ruins.

Roman George's body is found miles from his abandoned truck and surrounded by ancient symbols etched in blood. Leaphorn works with a partner Jim Chee ( Adam Beach), an FBI Academy grad who is also training to be a traditional Navajo healer. Well schooled in urban policing, he is soon confronted with a particular Navajo case: a mysterious killer who has a special antipathy for medicine men. Leaphorn is less sure about their return. His wife Emma ( Sheila Tousey) is recovering from cancer and feels rejuvenated by the landscape and people of her homeland.

Joe Leaphorn ( Wes Studi), a seasoned cop accustomed to the city ways of Phoenix, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, has returned to the Navajo reservation. It was repackaged in 2016 with the two following films as Skinwalkers: The Navajo Mysteries on Netflix. It is the first of three television films based on the same series of books, the other two being adaptations of A Thief of Time and Coyote Waits. The film was the highest rated program of 2002 on PBS. It was produced as part of the PBS Mystery! series, filmed on the Navajo reservation and directed by Chris Eyre. It features an all-Native American cast, with Adam Beach and Wes Studi playing officers Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn. Skinwalkers is a 2002 mystery television film based on the novel of the same name by Tony Hillerman, one of his series of mysteries set against contemporary Navajo life in the Southwest.

Skinwalkers hillerman