The Bureau of Criminal Identification defines homicide as the willful, non-negligent killing of one human being by another. The state only counts first-degree felony homicides and manslaughter in its statistics and does not tally homicides on federal land. In order to stay consistent with figures compiled from years past, neither BCI nor the News included automobile homicide, officer-involved shootings or fatal incidents that were determined to be in self-defense.
The News did count some second-degree felony homicides, such as child-abuse homicide and incidents that were originally charged as first-degree felony murder even if the defendant later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
1. LEHI, Jan. 6 — Kristy Ragsdale was shot and killed on her 30th birthday just as she arrived at church. Her estranged husband, David Ragsdale, 35, was waiting for her at the church parking lot, 1631 E. 900 North. When she arrived he shot her several times. Ragsdale later called police and turned himself in. In November, Ragsdale avoided a trial by pleading guilty to murder in exchange for a possible death sentence being taken off the table. Sentencing is Jan. 29.
2. SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 6 — Diego Mendoza, 16, was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting outside Sears, 800 S. State. A second man, Eder Orona, 23, was shot in the chest but did not die. A third escaped injury but was fired upon as he ran away. Luis Salazar Mendoza, 24, was later arrested and charged with aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder. Alex Rodriquez, 17, was also charged as an adult with murder. A scheduling conference is Jan. 6.
3. MIDVALE, Jan. 17 — Frank Saucedo, 43, died two days after being shot in the back of the head during an apparent road-rage incident. Saucedo was in the front passenger seat of a car with two other people. Their vehicle pulled out of a Smith's Food & Drug parking lot near 7000 South and 1000 East, and may have cut someone off, according to police. A few words were exchanged at the stop light between drivers. The driver of a late 1990s dark green Toyota Tacoma followed Saucedo's vehicle before firing a shot through the back window on Fort Union Boulevard near 700 East, hitting and killing Saucedo. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information can call police at 840-4000.
4. BOUNTIFUL, Jan. 19 — Susanne Fry, 57, was stabbed 51 times with a steak knife inside her apartment near 2100 S. Main. Phillip Simmons, 35, was arrested. Police say after the slaying, Simmons, who was living with Fry at the time, destroyed the apartment by punching holes in the wall, smashing windows and turning over a china hutch. He was arrested a block away. Simmons was declared incompetent to stand trial. Another review hearing is March. 24.
5. WEST VALLEY CITY, Feb. 10 — Eamiana Castillo, 57, died of strangulation in her apartment near 4000 S. Redwood Road. No possible motive has been released by police and no arrests have been made.
6. SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 6 — The body of Donna Toland, 40, was found floating in the Jordan River. She died from blunt force trauma to the head after she was hit with a fist and fell and hit her head on a rock, according to prosecutors. After hitting her head, Toland's body was tossed in the river. Her husband, Gary Toland, 45, was arrested and later charged with murder. The Tolands were transients. It was unclear how long Donna Toland's body was in the river before being discovered. Trial for Gary Toland is scheduled to begin Feb. 3.
7. SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 10 — Robert Ramirez, 26, was shot and killed during a birthday party at a duplex near 400 South and 1300 East. Two men were charged, including Michael Anthony Rix, 22, who was charged with murder, a first-degree felony. Rix reportedly got into an argument with Ramirez over an alleged stolen bottle of wine. Rix's next scheduled court appearance is Jan. 12. A jury trial begins April 20.
8. NEW HARMONY, Washington County, March 10 — Robert Ide, 80, was shot and killed by his wife, Lorraine Ide, 77, before she took her own life. A suicide note was left behind. Lorraine Ide called 911 and told dispatchers she had just shot her husband and was going to shoot herself and then hung up.
9. SALT LAKE CITY, March 12 — Wally Knapton, 49, the manager of the Family Dollar Store, 1145 S. Glendale Drive (1350 West), was shot and killed during a robbery in which the thieves made off with $180. Knapton, a well-liked citizen in the Glendale area, did nothing to provoke the shooting, according to police. Biu Benjamin Olive, 18, and 19-year-old Sarah Ataata and a 13-year-old were arrested. Olive, the gunman, and Ataata pleaded guilty to the murder in August and received long prison terms.
10. TOOELE, March 13 — Nicoli Emelyantsev, 14 months, suffered a skull fracture and died from abuse. The boy's mother, 33-year-old Kimberly K. Emelyantsev, who adopted Nicoli from Russia, pleaded guilty to child-abuse homicide, a second-degree felony, in June. She was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. The Emelyantsev family had two adopted children, including Nicoli, and three biological children. Three of their children, including Nicoli, were born with Down syndrome. Attorneys argued the mother was suffering from a severe depressive disorder when the fatal injuries occurred.
11. SOUTH SALT LAKE, March 31 — Hser Ner Moo, 7, died as a result of being suffocated and beaten after she was lured into an apartment of a family acquaintance. Esar Met, 21, was charged with aggravated murder. Moo, whose family came to America to start a new life after spending many years in a Thailand refugee camp, was reported missing March 31. A large number of police and volunteers turned up the next day to help find Moo in a search effort that resembled past high-profile cases of missing girls such as Elizabeth Smart and Destiny Norton. Moo's body was found in the bathroom of Met's basement apartment, a few hundred feet from Moo's apartment. Met's family were also refugees from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and lived in an apartment very close to Moo's. A preliminary hearing is set for April.
12, 13. SANPETE COUNTY, April 10 — Martin Cannon, 39, and Annette Young, 46, were murdered in what investigators suggested was a possible love triangle. Cannon was found shot to death at his Mt. Pleasant home. Young was found beaten to death the same day at her home in Fairview. Donald Bert Richardson, 48, surrendered a couple of days later to police in Oregon. He pleaded guilty in November to two counts of aggravated murder in exchange for an aggravated burglary and two theft charges being dismissed. Richardson was sentenced in December to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
14. SALT LAKE CITY, April 13 — Jonathan Mardoniz-Rosado, 21, was found dead in his aunt's apartment, 1340 S. 200 East. His aunt and nephew were in Las Vegas at the time. They returned home to find Mardoniz dead on the floor. Other tenants had reported seeing the door to the apartment open for a long time during the day but with no sign of Mardoniz. No arrests have been made.
15. SALT LAKE CITY, April 16 — John Adams, 79, a cab driver shot twice in the head in 1993, died in 2008. His cause of death was listed by the state medical examiner as homicide. Adams was 64 when he picked up Mario Jaime Ramirez on April 6, 1993. Ramirez shot Adams execution style, according to investigators. Detectives believed Ramirez committed the random act of violence in an effort to become the leader of a local gang. After the shooting, Ramirez was believed to have fled to either Mexico or California. He was charged with attempted murder and put on the most wanted list of the FBI's regional office in Utah. Ramirez has never been caught. Adams sustained permanent injuries and lived his remaining years in a Davis County care facility. Shrapnel from the bullets remained in Adams' head until his death.
16. SALT LAKE CITY, April 18 — Julio Balderama, 38, was shot and killed in the living room of his apartment, 1867 S. 400 East, in front of his adult daughter. Investigators said the shooting was drug related. Two men, wearing bandanas over their faces, kicked in the front door and shot Balderama. Three people were arrested in connection with the homicide. Juan Anthony Padilla and Arthur V. Spencer were charged with murder, a first-degree felony. A third person was charged with aggravated burglary and obstruction of justice. Their next court appearances are Jan. 9.
17. SALT LAKE CITY, April 18-19 — Deborah Jones, 50, was kidnapped, killed, her body stuffed in a plastic storage container and driven to Missouri before being discovered. Jones' disappearance and death was one of the more high-profile slayings of 2008. Jones disappeared from her house April 18. She was believed to have been killed sometime between April 18 and April 19. Jones' body was found three days later wrapped in a tarp and crammed into a container in the back of former live-in boyfriend Michael Doyel's car in Branson, Mo. Doyel was charged both in state and federal court. He was charged with Jones' murder in 3rd District Court and indicted federally by a grand jury in her kidnapping. Doyel was also charged in state court in the kidnapping of a second woman. A competency hearing in state court is Jan. 2.
18. MURRAY, April 20 — Farhad Ahman Mullahkhel, 19, was stabbed and killed during a large brawl between feuding families near 5300 S.Hamlin (570 West). Nazir Rahimi, 26, was arrested in connection with the case. Witnesses claimed Mullahkhel and three others went to Rahimi's house to retrieve a cell phone that Rahimi had allegedly taken. A fight ensued and police say Rahimi stabbed Mullahkhel. The case is set for trial May 18.
19. PROVO, May 11 — Jason Nielsen, 3 weeks, was taken to Primary Children's Medical Center with three skull fractures, a brain injury, fractured ribs and a lacerated liver. The injuries caused the infant to have seizures that he didn't have before, which eventually caused his death in October, according to prosecutors. The boy's father, Cameron Nielsen, 22, was originally charged with child abuse. Those charges were enhanced to aggravated murder following his son's death. He is scheduled to be in court again Jan. 15.
20-22. SOUTH SALT LAKE, May 12 — The bodies of Tracie Williamson, 28; her daughter, Linzie Williamson, 10; and 1-year-old Jessica Perez were all found shot to death in their house near 2400 S. West Temple. Williamson's live-in boyfriend, Peter Perez, was found in the house dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A note written by Williamson detailed a tumultuous relationship with Perez in which she at times feared for her life but was apparently too afraid to get help. The four-page letter was found by Williamson's father stuffed between the pages of one of his granddaughter's notebooks. It was unknown what sparked Perez's last fatal rampage in which investigators believe he shot each victim multiple times before killing himself.
23. OGDEN, May 30 — David Grant Swapp Jr., 3-months, died of suffocation. The boy's father, David Grant Swapp Sr., 27, was arrested and charged with murder, a first-degree felony. Paramedics were called to Swapp's apartment, 460 23rd St., where they found the infant not breathing. He was taken to McKay-Dee Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Swapp's next court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 8.
24. OREM, JUNE 15 — Christopher Kirsch, an adjunct professor at Utah Valley University, was stabbed 26 times with a kitchen knife in his house and killed on Father's Day following an argument with his son. Michael Kirsch, 31, was charged with aggravated murder and aggravated assault for apparently injuring his mother as she tried to break up the fight. In November, Kirsch was declared incompetent to stand trial because of his paranoid schizophrenia. Kirsch was charged with stabbing a man in 2004, who lived, and was also declared incompetent to stand trial at that time. His competency was restored in 2005 and he pled guilty to the charge and was sentenced to prison. When he was released in 2007, his parents took him in, hoping to get him the proper treatment he needed. A review hearing on Kirsch's competency is scheduled for Jan. 29.
25. SALT LAKE CITY, July 6 — Maria Del Carmen Menchaca, 7, was killed while playing on the sidewalk in front of her house during a drive-by shooting. Police say Menchaca was an innocent victim caught between two feuding gangs. She was on the corner of 800 West and Fremont Avenue (1100 South) when she was shot. The shooting, which came on the heels of the Family Dollar Store murder, outraged Glendale residents and resulted in many calling for a renewed crackdown on gang violence. Three people: Frank Benavidez, 20; Gabriel Alvarez, 16; and Mae Johnson, 16; were charged with murder. Johnson, who provided the gun, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, a second-degree felony, and will be sentenced Jan. 16. A preliminary hearing for the two other defendants is Feb. 10.
26, 27. OGDEN, July 13 — Teresa Tingey, 43, and Rosanna Cruz, 25, were shot and killed in separate incidents on the same night. Jacob Ethridge, 31, was charged with two counts of aggravated murder. Police say Ethridge got into a fight with his girlfriend that evening and afterward went looking for prostitutes on the street. He solicited Cruz and shot her in a vacant apartment, according to police. He then took Tingey behind another apartment building where he killed her. Ethridge turned himself in to police the next day. A preliminary hearing is Jan. 20.
28. ST. GEORGE, July 23 — Nicholas Long, 4 months, was found by police not breathing in his home. He was taken to a local hospital and then flown to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City where he died. Gregory T. Fullerton, 30, was charged with child-abuse homicide, a first-degree felony. His next court hearing is Feb. 5.
29. MAGNA, Aug. 8 — Molly Robbins, 51, was stabbed and killed inside her home near 7300 West and 4000 South. A former boyfriend, Charles Gunkel, 53, was charged with aggravated murder. Prosecutors say Gunkel went to Robbins' house, but when her daughter wouldn't allow him in, he forced his way inside. He pinned Robbins to the ground and choked her before stabbing her. A preliminary hearing is March 4.
30. SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 19 — Ryan Agar, 24, was shot multiple times while standing in a driveway near 500 East and 700 South on Aug. 16. He died at a local hospital three days later. Richard Sean Craft II, 21, was charged with murder, a first-degree felony. Agar and Craft were acquaintances, according to family members. Agar helped Craft set up a stereo system once, they said. A scheduling conference is set for Jan. 16.
31. LOGAN, Aug. 21 — James Harper, 48, was killed in his house near 200 West and 200 North after being stabbed in the back with a knife. His wife, Bonnie Harper, 57, was charged with murder, a first-degree felony. Court documents suggested the couple had had a turbulent relationship for more than a decade. Alcohol was believed to be a factor in the slaying. Harper plead guilty in October to an amended charge of second-degree felony manslaughter. She was sentenced in December to up to 15 years in prison.
32, 33. SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 22 — Anthony Gaines, 42, and Michael T. Ehlert, 20, were shot twice and killed near 1000 North and 500 West. Christian Sweeten, 26, was charged with two counts of aggravated murder. Sweeten claimed he was driving early in the morning in an unfamiliar neighborhood when he came across the two men and asked for directions. He claimed the victims gave him bad directions and then acted in a threatening manner against him. Prosecutors, however, noted that neither victim was armed and were trying to get away from Sweeten, as evidenced by being shot in the back. Sweeten called police to surrender shortly after returning home. A preliminary hearing is Feb. 18.
34. KEARNS, Aug. 24 — Alejandro Gabriel Lucero, 2, died after suffering a spinal injury caused by severe bending, according to prosecutors. Adrianna Lucero, 17, the boy's mother, was charged with first-degree felony murder and two counts of felony child abuse. The medical examiner found injuries consistent with previous abuse during the autopsy. An arraignment is Jan. 9.
35. AMERICAN FORK, Sept. 8 — A 4-month-old girl died after investigators said she was abused by the infant's father. Victor Gardea, 22, was charged with aggravated murder. Gardea told police he took a nap and when he woke up, his daughter was turning blue. Doctors, however, found evidence of severe brain trauma, broken ribs and organ damage consistent with abuse. A preliminary hearing is Jan. 22.
36. WEST VALLEY CITY, Oct. 9 — Jay Wolfinjer, 32, was kidnapped from his West Jordan apartment, beaten and left bound and gagged in a shed near 6600 West and 3300 South before succumbing to his injuries at a local hospital. Four people were charged in connection with the slaying: Fonua Kimoana, Ooleanui Kaina Salanoa, Pailate Lomu and Tuusao Adele Ama. Investigators believe the slaying was the result of a gang-related drug debt. A preliminary hearing is set for March 17.
2 comments on this story37. CLINTON, Oct. 24 — Jeffrey Allen Bancroft, 46, was shot while driving down Wall Avenue. Police were initially dispatched to an accident at 19th Street and Wall Avenue, where a car had run into a building. They later discovered Bancroft was shot in the back at close range. The search for the shooter and a motive continues.
38. SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 30 — Matthew Spero Maxwell, 25, was stabbed in the chest with a knife and killed while attending a party near 1600 West and 1700 South. An arrest warrant was issued in December for Medel Isaac Tenangueno.
39. JORDANELLE STATE PARK, Wasatch County Dec. 26 — Ashley Sparks, 21, was found shot multiple times at the entrance of Jordanelle State Park. She was taken to a local hospital where she later died. Three men, Joshua Binkerd, 22, Christopher Alvey, 19, and Jason Cowdell, 29, were arrested for investigation of aggravated murder. Her family said she was shot for being a police informant.
40. HUNTSVILLE, Weber County, Dec. 26 — The body of Noemi Rodriguez of Layton was found by a snowplow driver near the Huntsville Cemetery. Weber County sheriff's detectives were looking as of Dec. 29 for Gutberto Heras-Corrales, a 33-year-old former boyfriend, calling him a person of interest.
