Salt Lake murder-suicide victims kept to themselves, neighbors say

SALT LAKE CITY — The morning after police found three bodies in the basement of a Federal Heights home, the quiet neighborhood had started to return to normal Saturday.

Crime scene tape and squad cars were gone, as were glaring lights and uniformed officers. All that remained outside were a used pair of latex gloves, a tidy stack of business newspapers on the front porch and a mailbox stuffed with magazines.

Police believe that 35-year-old Vernee Stuart Halliday shot his parents, Vernee Ronald Halliday, 73, and Linda Covey Halliday, 69, before shooting himself in the finished basement of the home near 1475 E. Penrose Drive, a house the Hallidays built in 1973. Both men went by their middle names.

Ronald Halliday's niece, Anne Halliday, said her family was shocked by the news.

"(Stuart) wasn't some crazy kid," she said. "He wasn't some off-the-charts drug maniac guy. This was out of the blue. We don't have any answers as to why, but it was nothing that could have been prevented or nothing anyone could have seen."

Anne said her cousin was quiet, nice and polite. He was a "professional student" who had been in college several years, taken myriad classes and was even becoming fluent in French. She said he was home from school in California to spend Easter with his parents.

"They were a really loving, close-knit family," Anne Halliday said. "They were very private people, but very loving with each other. Very good friends."

Anne said the family went to a concert together a few weeks ago. She also said that, contrary to early reports, the Hallidays' other son, Patrick, died in 2004 of a heart attack, not suicide.

The quiet family had lived in the burnt-orange brick home since then, said neighbor Kay DeVries.

"I feel embarrassed to have lived across the street from people that were so troubled," DeVries said. "I just didn't know."

Other neighbors were similarly unaware of problems at the home and didn't know how long Stuart Halliday had been living there.

Neighbors said the Halliday parents were retired. Ronald Halliday had a career in computer programming and Linda Halliday had worked as a stockbroker.

Police went to the home Friday afternoon when an out-of-town relative called, saying she hadn't had contact with the Halliday family for days. Officers found a closed but unlocked back door and blood on the main floor. They discovered the bodies downstairs.

A gun was found at the scene, but there was no obvious motive for the shootings, police said.

Ron Henricksen moved to Federal Heights just six months ago and never knew his neighbors.

"It was just sad," he said. "It was a family tragedy, I guess."

e-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com; ashaha@desnews.com