Payson slaying victim identified as retired BYU professor

PAYSON — Law enforcement officials are releasing little information about the slaying of a retired BYU professor Monday evening in his home outside Payson.

The man was identified by associates and neighbors as Kay Sherman Mortensen, 70.

Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy said his officers had identified "multiple persons of interest" and arrests were "possible but not imminent" Tuesday evening.

Initial reports indicated that police were looking for two heavily armed white males with short hair. Dispatchers said officers believed the men broke into the home on South Canyon Road, slit one person's throat and tied two people up.

However, Tracy said he could not confirm that information or release anything else that might jeopardize the investigation.

"What we do know is kind of sketchy," said Sgt. Spencer Cannon, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.

Authorities are asking a person who called 911 and hung up Monday night to contact them again.

Mortensen worked at BYU for 37 years before he retired in mid-2005.

For the last 10 years of his academic career, he was a professor in the mechanical engineering department, teaching both graduate and undergraduate classes, said Tim McLain, the mechanical engineering chairman at BYU.

"He was energetic and enthusiastic," McLain said. "He always had a story to tell, an experience to share relative to what he was teaching."

McLain said Mortensen had a small piece of property where he kept animals and enjoyed ranching and the associated machinery.

"He had lots of stories about his machinery when it didn't work like he thought it should," he said. "He would share with his students and use that to color his lectures."

Attorney Jim Brady had worked with Mortensen several times and said he was impressed with Mortensen's effort to see that what was right, not necessarily most convenient, was done.

In one case, Mortensen was charged with a misdemeanor of discharging a firearm after he shot a dog that had run onto his property, despite multiple conversations with animal control officers and the owner.

"Instead of taking a plea deal, instead of reducing the charges and just sweeping it aside and paying a few dollars on that case … he wouldn't agree to accept responsibility for something he felt was not wrong," Brady said. "He was driven by the principle, not the efficiencies. That was refreshing."

Mortensen was acquitted by a judge in that case in April 2008.

Brady said Mortensen had been serving an LDS Church mission in Cove Fort but would come back to Payson on Mondays and then return Tuesday.

"It's just a tremendous loss for his friends and family," Brady said. "I'm sorry that somebody would take his life like that."

e-mail: pkoepp@desnews.com