Case of man charged with Anna Palmer murder moves forward

SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused in the 1998 slaying of 10-year-old Anna Palmer is one step closer trial, as a date has been set for a hearing to support the charges he faces.

A preliminary hearing was set July 30 for Matthew John Breck, 31, in 3rd District Court Friday. Breck was charged in January with aggravated murder, aggravated sex abuse of a child and child abuse in connection with Palmer's death.

The young girl was found stabbed to death Sept. 10, 1998, on the front porch of her home, 1633 S. 300 East, and soon became one of the Salt Lake City Police Department's highest profile cold cases.

Investigators at the time were frustrated by the lack of witnesses, despite the fact that the killing took place during the day near a busy intersection. An offer of an $11,000 reward turned up numerous leads, but none led to an arrest.

It wasn't until advances were made in DNA technology that investigators made a major breakthrough in the case, leading to charges being filed against Breck, who was 19 and lived in Palmer's neighborhood at the time of the slaying.

Breck had been in the Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino, in Clearwater County, Idaho, since 2001, when he was convicted of sodomy/lewdness of a child under 16.

Anna's mother, Nancy, was at the hearing Friday and said that it had been a "really emotional time."

"There's a lot going on, a lot happening, but we really appreciate the concern and the caring," she said. "We look forward to a resolution."

Breck did not appear in court on the charges related to Palmer's slaying, but did appear in a separate courtroom where he denied a number of probation violations that he allegedly committed in 1999. A hearing in that case also will be held July 30.

Breck remains in the Salt Lake County Jail on $2 million bail.

e-mail: emorgan@desnews.com