A 4th man is indicted in Kiplyn Davis case

A federal prosecutor says more indictments are to come in the 10-year-old disappearance case — and now suspected murder — of 15-year-old Kiplyn Davis.

On Monday, an indictment against 28-year-old Christopher Neal Jeppson was unsealed, accusing the West Jordan man of nine counts of making false statements to an FBI agent and perjury before a grand jury.

Jeppson's indictment by a federal grand jury brings to four the number of men now charged with taking part in what prosecutors say is a 10-year-old conspiracy of silence surrounding Davis' disappearance from Spanish Fork High School on May 2, 1995.

According to selected transcripts of interviews and testimony, Jeppson maintains that on the day Davis disappeared, several other students suspected in the alleged kidnapping and murder of Davis spent almost 12 hours with him in the school auditorium, helping set up for a play, throwing a Nerf football and listening to music. During further questioning, Jeppson admitted that the next school play was not for another month, bringing into question the need to spend such a long time setting up. Authorities also noted there are no witnesses who saw the group in the auditorium at the time.

Also in the indictment, Jeppson recounts visiting the home of Richard and Tamara Davis after their daughter's disappearance to apologize about how he treated Kiplyn at school. Jeppson said part of his reason was he wanted to confess to the family while preparing to go on an LDS mission.

"I felt guilty for the way I had talked to Kiplyn," Jeppson states in a transcript of an interview with an FBI agent.

Jeppson said he apologized for crude remarks he made to Davis, whom he described as loving.

"She was nice to everybody, and I was an ass when I was in high school," Jeppson stated.

At one point, he admitted to handcuffing Davis to a staircase railing and leaving her there.

However, federal prosecutors say they have evidence that Jeppson knows more about Davis' disappearance than he is letting on.

"We're saying that when he said that to an agent, that he was lying," said assistant U.S. District Attorney Richard Lambert, who added Jeppson did not make those statements to Davis' parents. "We're saying that's a lie, that he never did that."

Despite Jeppson's insistence of the truth, Lambert said his office has evidence that Jeppson's claims of an alibi and having no involvement in Davis' disappearance also are fabrications.