DRAPER — Investigators say it was Anne Kasprzak's 14-year-old boyfriend who severely beat her, then dumped her body in the Jordan River in 2012.

Why he allegedly killed her remains a mystery, but investigators say blood evidence, cellphone data, a torn up memo and other evidence have convinced them they have the right guy 2 ½ years later.

The boy, now 17, was arrested in Grand Junction, Colorado, Thursday and charged in 3rd District Juvenile Court with murder, a first-degree felony, and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.

Prosecutors said they may later push to charge him as an adult. "That's a consideration that we're looking at," said Salt Lake County deputy district attorney Blake Nakamura.

The teenager was being held in a detention center in Grand Junction awaiting extradition to Utah. That process could take several weeks, said Draper Police Chief Bryan Roberts.

The young man lived in Utah when Kasprzak was killed but has recently been living in Colorado.

On the evening of March 10, 2012, Kasprzak was reported missing by her parents. The next day, Draper police responded to 12678 S. Jordan Parkway Trail to a report of blood and a shoe located in the area. Officers found the girl's body further down the Jordan River.

On March 12, 2012, an autopsy determined that she died from "multiple blunt force injuries of the head," according to charging documents.

Police found that "numerous" phone calls were made between Kasprzak and her boyfriend on the evening she went missing, but the phone calls ended after 8:30 p.m., the charges state.

After Kasprzak's body was found, police spoke with her boyfriend and asked for the shoes he was wearing that night. He told officers that his girlfriend had had a bloody nose while at a friend's house two weeks before, and that some of her blood dropped onto his left shoelace, according to charging documents.

The friend initially confirmed the bloody nose story until officers discovered a text message on the friend's phone from Kasprzak's boyfriend that asked him to tell police that the girlfriend had a bloody nose at his house. The friend then admitted that he lied about seeing her with a bloody nose, the charges state.

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"(The friend) also stated (Kasprzak's boyfriend) informed him he had been at the Jordan River that night, but not to tell anyone," investigators wrote. He said he had also been asked to erase the text messages on his phone.

Blood on the shoes belonging to Kasprzak's boyfriend was located "in multiple areas on both shoes" and the DNA profile matched that of Kasprzak, the charges state.

Investigators also searched the boy's residence and said they found a shredded piece of paper in his trash can. When they put it back together, the paper contained facts about the case, including a "rough timeline" of events.

The note also contained a description of a jacket and a line that referred to a jacket that "she" was wearing on "that night," the charges state. Kasprzak's mother confirmed that her daughter owned a jacket matching the description in the note and said that jacket was missing.

"Neither the police nor Mrs. Kasprzak were aware of the jacket prior to this," the charging documents state.

Kasprzak's mother said she called her daughter's boyfriend on the night she was missing and she said he told her he hadn't seen her. But investigators say geographical cellphone data shows that the boyfriend was within 100 meters of the crime scene when the mother called him, according to the charges.

The boy is currently being held on $1 million bail. The Deseret News is not naming him at this time.

Nakamura said that while the teenager has "always been a person of interest" in Kasprzak's killing, why he wasn't arrested sooner stems from the complexity of the case.

"This has been a very difficult case and it's taken a while to get to this point," he said. "In any kind of difficult investigation, things always don't line up as hindsight, if you will, may suggest."

He added that Draper police detectives have been working the case "very diligently" as developments emerged. "It wasn't until now that they felt comfortable presenting (the evidence) to us and we obviously agreed with what they produced," he said.

Nakamura said a motive for the killing has not been officially identified.

Roberts emphasized that his investigators are confident they have the right person.

"For the past 2 ½ years, investigators from the Draper City Police Department have worked tirelessly to identify Anne's murderer. Today, we are confident we have that person in custody," Roberts said. "Now we will focus our efforts to support the district attorney's office in their prosecution of the suspect."

Anne's mother, Veronica Kasprzak, said feeling any sort of relief would be an "incomplete" description of what the family feels knowing that a significant step in the case has finally been made.

"It does not change what happened," she said. "But we are hopeful that with this progress, at one point in the future, at least the criminal process will be at an end and our time from that point can be spent remembering Anne and focusing on the parts we prefer to remember instead of how she passed."

Draper police originally arrested two men for investigation of murder in her case, theorizing that Kasprzak had gone to a party and was knocked unconscious, rolled up in a tarp and taken away after refusing a man's sexual advances.

But no charges were ever filed against them and investigators admitted one year after her death that they were no longer considered suspects. A private investigator hired by one of the men said he believes officers mistook information from one case as being connected to Anne's killing.

On the two-year anniversary of her death in March, Kasprzak's family again called on people who knew her to come forward with information that could help investigators determine what happened that night. In addition to offering a $5,000 reward, the family launched a campaign called, "No More Secrets — Be The Change," in an effort to encourage people to step forward, strongly believing that someone knows what happened to Anne.

Contributing: Jed Boal

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