Man sentenced for lying to investigators in Kiplyn Davis case

SALT LAKE CITY — Scott Brunson doesn't know what happened to Kiplyn Davis, the Spanish Fork teenager who went missing more than 16 years ago.

Investigators in the case didn't believe that for a long time. They thought the high school pal of Timmy Brent Olsen knew more than he let on.

But federal prosecutors are now convinced that other than providing a false alibi for Olsen, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in February, Brunson knows nothing about Kiplyn Davis' disappearance May 2, 1995.

That, in part, led assistant U.S. attorney Carlos Esqueda to recommend Brunson, 34, be placed on probation for admitting to perjury and making false statements. U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups agreed and sentenced Brunson to 24 months probation with the possibility it be terminated after one year.

Waddoups said he is satisfied that Brunson does not know anything about the crime and that Brunson lied out of "misguided loyalty to a person he viewed as a friend."

Brunson told FBI agents that Olsen was with him all day on May 2, 1995, building a shed in his backyard. It was a story he said Olsen told him to tell should anyone ask.

Esqueda said Brunson regrets what he did because had he not lied, it might have changed the course of the investigation. Kiplyn Davis' body has never been found.

Since his admission in 2005, Esqueda said Brunson has lived an "upstanding life" and has testified against Olsen in federal and state courts.

"He has suffered a lot because of his cooperation with the government," Esqueda said. "If he could help more, he would."

Olsen admitted in state court to his role in the killing of Kiplyn Davis, saying he saw another person strike Davis twice in the head with a softball-size rock in Spanish Fork Canyon, then helped that person move her body. As part of his plea agreement, Olsen was not required to identify the other person.

Olsen is serving a one-to-15-year prison term in that case concurrently with a 12½-year federal sentence for his conviction on 15 counts of perjury in 2006.

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