Davis County prosecutors filed criminal charges today against a registered sex offender for his role in the death of a 16-year-old Bountiful girl.

Walter White was charged in Farmington's 2nd District Court with child abuse, a second-degree felony; obstruction of justice, desecration of a body, unlawful sex with a minor and unlawful sex with a 16-year-old, all third-degree felonies. It is in connection with the death of Samantha Mikesell, whose body was found Thursday in Mueller Park Canyon.

"We feel the evidence is sufficient to support those charges," Davis County Attorney Mel Wilson told the Deseret Morning News this morning.

Bountiful Police Lt. Steve Gray said detectives spent the weekend questioning many friends and associates of Mikesell, who suggested the two were more than "just friends" as White has claimed.

"We're getting more friends who said she told me this and that," Gray said.

White, 38, was scheduled to make his first appearance in Farmington's 2nd District Court this afternoon.

Police said White told them he picked Mikesell up from work on Sunday and the two went up the canyon where they took prescription drugs and drank alcohol. According to a probable cause statement filed with the charges, White made plans to kill himself in the presence of Mikesell.

"During June and July, 2006 defendant made plans with the child to commit suicide in her presence. Only July 5, 2006 he went with the child to the mountains and ingested several pills in an attempt to commit suicide," the court documents said. Prosecutors also contend that White dragged her body into a secluded area and hid some of the pill bottles.

On Tuesday, a Davis County Sheriff's deputy spotted White walking in the foothills, scratched by deep brush and disoriented. He was taken to Lakeview Hospital where he was treated and released.

On Wednesday, police investigating Mikesell's disappearance tracked down White at his Woods Cross apartment. Officers said he told them he was with Mikesell on Sunday. He was later readmitted to Lakeview Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation before being booked into the Davis County Jail.

Police said Mikesell and White had struck up a friendship in 2005, when she met him through White's son. Walter White is a registered sex offender since his convicted in 1996 of lewdness involving a child.

In another bizarre development, prosecutors charged White's landlord with burglary, a second-degree felony and obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony.

After Bountiful police searched White's apartment, Davis County prosecutors said Deborah Jule broke in through a window and stole a pair of cameras in the apartment.

"A witness indicates there were photos of the girl on the camera," said deputy Davis County Attorney Steve Major. "She refused to turn over that camera to us and that's why obstruction of justice."

For more details, read Tuesday's edition of the Deseret Morning News.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com