Details in slaying elicit gasps

FARMINGTON — Gasps echoed through the courtroom Thursday as a detective described gruesome details of the rape and slaying of youth counselor Raechale Elton in Clearfield on Feb. 15.

Robert Cameron Houston, 17, has been waived into adult court and charged with capital murder, but due to his youth he is not facing the death penalty. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. He also is charged with aggravated sexual assault and rape, both first-degree felonies.

At Thursday's preliminary hearing, 2nd District Judge Michael Allphin bound Houston over for trial on all three counts.

Clearfield police detective Mike Valencia described in graphic detail how Houston, who was captured shortly after the slaying, confessed to forcing Elton to have sex with him at knifepoint, stabbing her repeatedly in the back, slitting her throat and attempting twice to break her neck.

A gasp rippled through the courtroom as Valencia described one especially depraved act, and many people in the room wept.

The slender, youthful-looking Houston sat shackled in a red jail jumpsuit, listening to the testimony with his head hung down almost the entire time.

It was an exceptionally snowy day when Elton, 22, had given Houston a ride from a group home for troubled teens to an independent living center, just a short distance away.

Dallin Plaizier, one of Elton's co-workers, spotted her leaving with Houston and testified he "had a bad feeling" and called Elton on her cell phone.

"I told her to give me a call as soon as you drop him off because I didn't feel right about it. I specifically said, 'You know what type of person you're with — he's a violent sex offender. Are you all right?' " Plaizier testified.

Driving home in the opposite direction, Plaizier was so worried he turned around and drove to the center after he didn't hear from Elton.

Weeping as he testified, Plaizier said he saw Houston with blood-stained clothes running out of the center pulling his pants up, then dashing for Elton's car where he locked himself in and drove off.

Plaizier ran into the center and found Elton's nude body in a bedroom, along with a blood stain on a mattress and a small pocket knife nearby. He checked for vital signs, called 911 and followed the dispatcher's directions to put a towel on the throat wound. Plaizier then covered Elton with a blanket.