Photo: The Canadian Press
Utah crime scene file
The case of a couple of teenagers killed and dumped in an abandoned mine shaft culminated in convictions for the murder on Friday of a Utah man who prosecutors say killed the couple because he found them hanging out with his girlfriend.
Jarod Baum, 45, faces up to life in prison after jurors found him guilty of two counts of aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping and other counts of murder in 2017 after a month-long trial.
Brelin Breeze Oteson, 17, and Riley Powell, 18, disappeared days after Christmas. Their bound and stabbed bodies were found months later in the western Utah desert, 100 feet (30 meters) down an abandoned mine shaft.
Prosecutors said they died after meeting a friend, Morgan Lewis, on December 30 at her home in Eureka, a former silver mining town. While they were there, her friend Baum returned home. He was angry because he had forbidden Louis to have male friends, and she had been dating Powell before.
Lewis told police that her friend tied up Oteson and Powell, taped their mouths and threw them into the back of Powell’s jeep. He then drove them, along with Henderson, to the site of an abandoned mine outside the city.
There he beats and stabs Powell before cutting Ottenson’s throat, then throws them down.
“He took revenge on Riley and Morgan and made her watch to know that this happens when you break my rules,” prosecutor Ryan McBride said, Fox13 reported.
The couple’s family and friends have been searching for months before Lewis was stopped during an unconnected traffic stop on March 25. In the end, she agreed to cooperate with the police.
Much of the prosecution’s arguments were based on her testimony, which was questioned by the defense. Lawyer Dallas Young said there was no DNA evidence linking the killings to Baum
“You can’t believe (Lewis) and you can’t be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said, according to KSL.
Prosecutors have argued that Louis and Baum burned and bleached important evidence, deleting DNA.
Prosecutors initially demanded the death penalty, but Utah County Attorney David Leewitt later removed him from the table as he vowed not to prosecute the death penalty again.
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