Destiny Norton's dad arrested in drug, gun case

Rickey Lee Norton, the father of 5-year-old Destiny Norton, a girl who made international headlines in 2006 after being kidnapped and murdered, has been arrested for investigation of drug dealing and weapons violations.

Following a one-month investigation by Salt Lake police, Norton, 33, was arrested Tuesday in West Jordan after detectives served a search warrant on his house.

When police entered, they found "multiple baggies of marijuana packaged for distribution, a marijuana pipe, (and) a gun was also located near the marijuana," according to a jail report.

In addition, there were three small children in the house at the time, and the drugs were easily accessible to them, jail records state.

Norton was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of three counts of child endangerment, three counts of weapons violation by a restricted person, drug possession with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia.

In 2006, the world watched and grieved with Rickey and Rachael Norton as they searched for their missing daughter, Destiny. On July 16 that year, Destiny had been playing in her fenced backyard when she was lured into the house of a neighbor two doors away, near 700 South and 500 East.

Destiny was suffocated when Craig Gregerson, then 20, put his hand over the young girl's mouth and squeezed. After a massive eight-day search that made the Norton case one of the highest-profile child disappearances in Utah since Elizabeth Smart, Destiny's body was found wrapped in garbage bags and stuffed in a plastic storage bin in Gregerson's basement.

Gregerson accepted a plea deal in December 2006, pleading guilty to aggravated murder and child kidnapping in exchange for being spared the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

During nearly the entire ordeal, Rickey Norton remained mostly silent in his public comments to the media, but the anguish on his face said more than any words he could express. During at least one news conference, Rickey Norton was so overcome with emotion and grief that he couldn't stop shaking and had to be led away.

In 2007, a year after the murder, Rickey Norton granted an interview with the Deseret News. He said he and his wife at that time were "coping." Norton also mentioned how he was extra cautious with his two other daughters, Destiny's sisters, Faith and Trenaty.

The children found in his house Tuesday when he was arrested were not those girls, according to police.

Since 2007, life hasn't gotten any easier for the Nortons.

In April, Rickey Norton filed for divorce from Rachael Norton, and the divorce was finalized just two weeks ago. On Aug. 7, she filed for a restraining order against him, according to court documents, but had it withdrawn 20 days later.

He was being held Wednesday without bail. In the late '90s, he was convicted on retail-theft, forgery and drug-paraphernalia charges, according to court records.

e-mail: preavy@desnews.com