Prosecutors to seek death penalty in '99 slaying

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake District Attorney's Office will seek the death penalty if Donald Eugene Younge is convicted of the stabbing death of Amy Quinton that occurred a decade ago.

Younge, 43, is charged with aggravated murder and nine other felonies in connection with events that occurred at Quinton's Salt Lake City apartment on Aug. 3, 1999.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Quinton, 22, was a well-liked theater student who died after being stabbed in the chest in a bedroom of the apartment at 127 S. 800 East.

Her roommate, Lynn Drebes, testified at a Nov. 25 preliminary hearing that Quinton was studying for a German final in her own bedroom, while Drebes and a friend, Erin Warn, were eating pizza and watching a movie in Drebes' bedroom.

Drebes testified that when she went into the kitchen, Younge, who had managed to get into the apartment, grabbed her and held a knife to her throat.

Both Drebes and Warn testified that in the events that followed, Younge demanded money and one of the young women tried calling 911 but Younge hung the phone up. When the 911 dispatcher called back, Younge calmly answered and said that the call had been a mistake.

Both women testified that Younge hurt them — that he repeatedly hit Drebes and knocked her into a wall and he stabbed Warn with a knife. As he was walking out of the apartment, he suddenly returned, went into Quinton's bedroom and, according to the testimony of the two other women, fatally stabbed her.

Younge for some time had been held in an Illinois jail facing three murder charges in the deaths of three women there, as well as a sexual assault charge involving a fourth woman. However, the cases fell through for various reasons, including the death of the sexual assault victim in an unrelated crime.

Younge also has been charged in Utah with raping a U. student in 1996. His identity was unknown at the time, but the DNA from the crime was preserved. Utah law enforcement officials put a name to the DNA after Younge was arrested in Illinois, and he subsequently was charged in that case.

The trial on the sexual assault in Utah is ongoing this week.

Prosecutors in Utah have 60 days after an individual is arraigned to announce whether they will seek the death penalty if the individual is convicted. However, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office said Dec. 11 it wants the death penalty for Younge if he is convicted of the aggravated murder charge, according to court records.

He is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail on $2 million cash-only bail.

His next court hearing in the Quinton case is Jan. 15.

e-mail: lindat@desnews.com