Homicides on home front vex Utah Valley

PROVO — Murder doesn't occur often in Utah Valley. But when it does, the victim frequently is a woman slain by a man who is or was her husband or boyfriend.

Three of the seven homicides in 2002 and 2001 resulted from ongoing spousal abuse:

• Estranged husband Robert Steven Hatch shot his wife, Sharee Lana Hatch, in the bedroom of her Spanish Fork home July 8, 2002.

• John Vinanti beat his wife of four months, Brenda Lee Lundell, to death, wrapped her body in a blanket and stuffed it under a bed in their Spanish Fork home Oct. 2, 2002.

• Boyd Mason shot and killed his ex-wife Stacey Mason after a heated argument in her Payson apartment Nov. 29, 2001. Her 11-year-old daughter called 911 saying, "Please help me. My dad just shot my mom."

Vinanti and Mason are currently in prison; Hatch was convicted this month and will be sentenced in December. (The two murders in Utah County to date this year did not involve domestic violence.)

"I'm surprised at how violent the crimes are here," said Donna Kelly, an assistant Utah County attorney who moved from Oregon about a year ago. "Obviously, we have a problem because women are dying. It's a serious problem."

Despite the emphasis on family unity — Orem bills itself as Family City USA — the proportion of homicides that are linked to domestic abuse in "Happy Valley" appears to be much higher than the statewide rate.

Provo has had seven homicides since 1993. Domestic violence factored into five of them, police records show.

In Utah, 25 percent of homicides in 2001 and 2002 were the result of domestic violence, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety. A Violence Policy Center study of 2001 homicide data shows Utah ranks 16th in the rate of men killing women,

"I think it's a bigger problem than most people want to admit," said Vicki Proctor, Provo police victim assistance coordinator. "It used to be that child abuse was the hidden family secret."

Provo handled 510 domestic violence cases in 2002 or one every 17 hours. Orem police had 495. The 4th District Court issued 813 protective orders, about 16 per week. Victim advocates say the court orders protect women from their abusers but they are no guarantee.

Kent Harrison, a retired Brigham Young University professor who co-authored the book "Confronting Abuse," said he doesn't see anything particular about Utah Valley that would explain the seemingly high proportion of domestic violence deaths.