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Gene Kennedy reporting A Bountiful woman was stabbed to death overnight, and police think the killer was a man who periodically stayed with her at her apartment.
Bountiful police have arrested 35-year-old Phillip Simmons. He's in Davis County Jail potentially facing a murder charge.
Police are still looking into the nature of Simmons' relationship with the victim, 57-year-old Suzanne Fry. She was killed in a very violent way.
The shattered sliding glass door on the back of the victim's apartment is only one indication of how violently she died. It's much worse inside the apartment. "There are holes punched in the wall, doors were broken out. There's a sliding-glass door in the back that's shattered. All the plates and mirrors had been broken," explained Bountiful Police Lt. Randy Pickett.
A neighbor heard banging and glass breaking and saw a man in the apartment. The neighbor called police. When officers arrived they received no response at the front door. With the back door shattered, police decided to go in. "They found a woman laying on the floor in the living room in a pool of blood," Pickett said.
Fry had been stabbed more than 20 times according to Bountiful police.
Just a block from the crime scene, right near Willey Ford, a police officer noticed a man walking down Main Street in only a T-shirt and camouflage jeans and shoes. When the officer went to talk with the man, he noticed a small amount of blood on his hand, arm and shirt. Police say that was Phillip Simmons.
"Basically all he's told us is they were arguing, and the next thing he knew there was blood everywhere," Pickett said.
According to investigators, Simmons stayed at the victim's apartment sometimes. We spoke with Suzanne's family. They say there was absolutely no relationship between Suzanne and Simmons. And Simmons was not living with her.
"I didn't know she had someone staying with her off and on. It really surprises me," neighbor John Grondel said.
Neighbor Millicent Tinkorang said, "I have never, in the one year I've lived here, seen her with anybody or anyone coming in or out."
Police say even the victim's brother, who owns the apartment building, had no idea someone was staying with her. Now, so many people are grieving her loss--family, employees at the Cottontree Inn where she worked, and neighbors at the usually quiet Birches Apartments.
"We all loved her. She was a very nice person to be with," neighbor Geneal King said.
As for a motive, police aren't sure. They say it just appears to be an argument with Simmons losing his temper.
Bountiful police have only dealt with Simmons on misdemeanor charges, nothing violent. Now he's in the medical unit of the Davis County Jail on suspicion of aggravated murder.
