Defendant in murder case urged friend to 'remember' story explaining blood

Defendant in murder case urged friend to 'remember' story explaining blood

(Deseret News)


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SALT LAKE CITY — A bloody nose, a flurry of phone calls on the night Anne Kasprzak went missing and the alleged existence of a teenager known as "LJ" dominated the second day of a preliminary hearing for a boy accused of murdering her.

The boy, now 17, was just 14 when police say he beat Kasprzak, his 15-year-old girlfriend, and dumped her body in the Jordan River three years ago.

If 3rd District Juvenile Judge Dane Nolan determines there is enough evidence to order the teen to stand trial, he will then decide whether the boy should face his charges in juvenile court or adult court. The Deseret News has chosen not to name the defendant at this time.

A DNA expert testified Tuesday that Kasprzak's blood was found on the defendant's shoes. When police first confiscated his shoes, he allegedly told them that they might find Kasprzak's blood on the shoes because she recently had a bloody nose and some of the blood may have spilled onto them.

On Tuesday, a 17-year-old friend testified about texts he received from the defendant after Kasprzak's body was found. "He was trying to get me to remember an incident about Anne having a bloody nose," Spencer Criddle said.

Although Criddle said he had no reason not to believe his friend, he admitted during questioning that he never actually saw her with a bloody nose. In fact, Criddle said the first he ever heard of Kasprzak's alleged nose bleed was when the defendant texted him asking him to "remember" the bloody nose incident in case he was questioned by police.

When police asked him if it happened, he told them, "I believe so." But he testified in court Tuesday: "To me it may or may not have happened."

Criddle also testified that he was told by Kasprzak that she was pregnant with either the defendant's baby or a 17-year-old Ogden gang member named LJ's baby. He said the defendant told him that Kasprzak wanted to run away to California on the night she disappeared, but the defendant told her it wasn't a good idea and he didn't want to go with her. Kasprzak allegedly "freaked out," the defendant told Criddle. That's when the defendant allegedly left his house to search the nearby Jordan River Parkway for her, according to Criddle.


He was trying to get me to remember an incident about Anne having a bloody nose.

–Spencer Criddle, 17-year-old friend of defendant


But Criddle also admitted Tuesday that the parkway wasn't a place the three of them ever went, so it was out of the ordinary.

On the night of Kasprzak's disappearance, Criddle said he received a short voicemail from her on his cellphone. He said it sounded like "an emergency," describing her tone as kind of anxious and stressed.

Criddle described the defendant as being "upset" when he learned of the alleged pregnancy. But he said the defendant was never violent or angry or ever talked about killing her in all the years he's known him.

As Criddle walked out of the courtroom Tuesday, he seemed to make eye contact with the defendant, giving a slight, cordial smile as if to say, 'Hi.'

Draper police detective Jaclyn Moore meticulously went over the calls made to and from Kasprzak's cellphone on the night she disappeared. Between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. there were a flurry of calls made between her, the defendant and Criddle, starting with an 18-minute call about 6 p.m. initiated by the defendant.

Between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. there were a number of short calls as if they were all playing phone tag with each other. The longest was a call from the defendant's phone to hers about 7:50 p.m. that lasted 4 ½ minutes. The defendant later admitted he tried to hide his number from showing up on Kasprzak's phone for at least one call because she wasn't answering, Moore said.

Moore also testified that the defendant was the only person Draper police could determine had actually ever had a conversation with the person known as LJ. Even after consulting with several other police departments, no record of an LJ could be found.

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