CENTERVILLE — The "best of the best."

That's how some who knew Jazmyn Jeppson, 21, remembered the recently returned missionary on Tuesday, a day after she was broadsided and killed on Parrish Lane in Centerville by a man who police say was trying to get away after carjacking two vehicles.

"She is pure gold. She is as sweet and as pure as they come. There is no better," Jeff Ostler, Jeppson's LDS stake president, said Tuesday. "She's a special, special woman that we can all use as an example in our lives."

Jeppson graduated from Davis High School and attended BYU-Idaho before serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Houston, Texas. She returned on Dec. 16.

The Farmington woman began working at the reception desk of Stout Building Contractors in Centerville in January. She was driving home from work on Monday when she was hit and killed by a vehicle driven by Anthony Santos Cruz, 28, of Bountiful, that slammed into her, according to police.

Cruz remained hospitalized Tuesday. Kaysville Police Lt. Kenton Pies declined Tuesday to release Cruz's condition, noting only that he was expected to survive.

A woman who was with Cruz, Michelle Jennifer Vigil, 22, of West Valley City, was booked into the Davis County Jail for investigation of aggravated robbery.

Despite being "heartbroken" over losing his daughter, Jeppson's father has already forgiven Cruz, according to President Ostler.

"He wants this young man and the family of this young man to know that they have no hard feelings, that they are full of forgiveness and they wish nothing but the best for this family," he said.

A happy person

Jeppson was a woman known for having a big smile, according to her friends. She enjoyed volleyball as well as hiking and being in the outdoors.

"She had a very infectious smile and just a happy, positive approach to life. It was contagious how positive it was," said Jeppson's bishop, David Francis. "If life was a smorgasbord, Jazmyn was eating with both hands."

A devout Mormon, since returning from her mission, Jeppson recently received a new calling involving family home evening, and friends said she was excited about starting the next chapter in her life.

"She told her mother just the other day she is so happy. She's never been happier," President Ostler said, adding that the woman's family is being "as strong as anybody could."

He said their faith will help them get through the tragedy, knowing that Jeppson is now continuing her mission work elsewhere. "The things that they believe, the things that they know, they know Jazmyn is in a good place. They know that a person can't be any more ready to meet their Father than Jazmyn Jeppson is," the stake president said. "The way this family is handling this is an example to all of us as well."

'Look of desperation'

Monday's incident began when Cruz and Vigil forcefully took a car at the intersection of Fairfield and Mutton Hollow roads in Kaysville just after 4:30 p.m., according to police.

The woman who was carjacked was driving on Mutton Hollow Road when she saw Vigil standing in the middle of the street, causing the driver to slam on her brakes to avoid hitting her. Vigil then approached the driver and claimed that a man with a knife was coming to get her, according to a Davis County Jail report.

Moments later, a man with a knife came to the woman's window and told her to get out, the report states. The woman refused, prompting the man to grab her by her shoulders and pull her out.

A motive for the initial carjacking was still being investigated Tuesday. "At this point we don't have a motive as to why," Pie said.

About 15 to 20 minutes later, that stolen vehicle stopped on I-15 near Centerville. A Unified police officer who was heading to work saw the couple and thought that they had run out of gas, so he pulled over to help.

But as the officer was talking to dispatchers, he learned that the vehicle had just been reported as stolen. It was during this time that Vigil started walking down the side of the freeway and Cruz carjacked a second vehicle, according to police.

Tab Robbins' vehicle was stopped in the far right lane in a traffic jam. He said he was sitting in his car when he saw a man walk out in front of him.

"(He) steps in front of my car and holds out his hand as if to say, 'Stop,'" Robbins recalled. "He had a look of desperation or needing help on him."

The man then motioned to Robbins to open his door, and then tried to open it himself when Robbins shook his head to say no. Robbins said it happened so fast that if his car hadn't already have been locked, he doesn't think he would have had time to do it.

"He got frustrated. Kind of pulled his hands away from my car, made a frustrating gesture and then moved to the car behind me," Robbins told the Deseret News.

The car behind him was a Volkswagen.

Driver assault

Robbins decided to get some distance between him and the man and sped about 100 feet up the road and pulled off to the shoulder. From that position, he could see an officer handcuffing a woman over in the car pool lane.

He could also see the man try to get the Volkswagen driver to open the door. After about 20 to 30 seconds, Robbins said the thief was successful.

"I saw the suspect, he was yanking on the driver's arm. He must have done it five or 10 times, with all his weight, trying to pull the guy out of the car," he said.

After he pulled the driver out, Robbins said the man punched the driver in the face several times.

All traffic near the Volkswagen was at a complete stop while the traffic in front of the vehicle had moved, Robbins said. It was at that point that the officer in the far lane realized what was happening.

"It was at that point I see a police officer sprint across four lanes of traffic and pull out a weapon and was probably yelling, 'Stop,'" he said.

The man sped away in the Volkswagen before the officer could reach the vehicle. But it pulled over about a mile later and let a second person, presumably a passenger, out of the car, Robbins recalled. At that point, two or three other motorists attempted to box the car thief in, but he was able to drive around them.

Robbins said he, too, attempted at one point to force the man off the road. He said he eventually stopped because of concerns over safety and whether he was legally allowed to do it. He lost sight of the car just as it sped away to Parrish Lane.

As the Volkswagen exited I-15 at Parrish Lane in Centerville, it smashed into Jeppson's vehicle.

Criminal histories

According to Utah state court records, Cruz pleaded guilty to an amended charge of attempted drug possession in 2014. A felony burglary case against him was dismissed in 2014. Cruz was also convicted of DUI in 2011 and inciting a riot in 2009.

Vigil, according to court records, has has several misdemeanor charges since 2011. She has had an outstanding warrant since November of 2014 for failing to appear in court on charges of theft, intoxication and failing to stop at the command of a law enforcer.

She had another warrant issued on Jan. 28 out of West Valley Justice Court for carrying a gun while under the influence, having a loaded firearm in a car in a prohibited area and intoxication, court records state. Vigil has been charged in at least six other misdemeanor cases, all for alcohol or drug-related offenses.

Contributing: Mike Anderson

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