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SALT LAKE CITY — A brother and sister gunned down allegedly over a T-shirt. An 8-year-old boy shot and killed by his father who had battled mental health issues. A Tooele mother allegedly killed by her adult son.
These were just a few cases in what was one of the deadliest months in recent years in Utah.
At least 11 people died in Utah as a result of homicide during July. According to statistics kept by the state Bureau of Criminal Identification, it's the most homicides in a single month since October 2007.
And that number could rise to 13. As of Monday, two suspicious deaths remained unsolved:
On July 17, the body of an Orangeville woman, Kristi Price Maxwell, 47, was found in her home, and her husband, Richard Maxwell, was sent to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his torso. The couple was identified by neighbors. Emery County officials have declined to release even the most basic details, including the Maxwells' names.
Emery County Attorney Michael D. Olsen on Friday denied a public records request from KSL asking for basic information about the death as contained in the sheriff's initial contact report, which are classified as public under the Government Records Access and Management Act. Olsen claimed the report is a protected record.
Law enforcers in Box Elder County were also still investigating Monday the death of Nicole Barlow, 26, whose body was found in the Bear River after being missing for a week. Deputies have called the death "suspicious."
There potentially were 16 Utah homicides if you include the last four days of June in that July tally.
On June 30, two people — Maddison Haan, 20, of West Point, and Tyler Christianson, 19, of Ogden — were killed when police say a 16-year-old girl attempting to commit suicide purposely slammed her Chevy Tahoe into the victims' Hyundai Accent. Marilee Patricia Gardner was charged with two counts of murder.
On June 27, police say David Heisler, 30, was kidnapped from his Santa Clara home by the mother of his 6-year-old daughter and the woman's boyfriend. After the woman lost custody of the child to Heisler, the boyfriend promised her he would "fix this," a search warrant states. Heisler's car was recovered, but there has been no sign of him since that day.
The Unified Police Department has investigated 10 homicides through the first seven months of the year, matching the same number it had during all of 2015. And Lt. Lex Bell said last year's total was unusually high.
Many of the murder cases Unified police have handled this year have gang- or drug-related ties, he said. In the vast majority of cases, the suspect and victim already knew each other.
He noted, however, that gangs and drugs are ongoing issues. But as to why they seem to be leading to an unually high number of deaths, Bell doesn't have an answer.
"I don't know that we know that yet," he said. "It's hard to know what's driven people to the point where they're killing each other for things that in the past probably could have been settled with a talk or maybe even a fistfight."
Unified police investigated four homicides during July, including three in six days.
• On July 7, siblings Jose and Abril Izazga, ages 16 and 15, respectively, were shot and killed because of a dispute that allegedly started over a T-shirt.
• On July 10, Marvin Lopez, 24, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Kearns.
• On July 13, David Perea, 38, was stabbed and killed inside his Magna home. The suspect, Jared Ryan Groves, 35, fatally stabbed himself in the neck a short time later after being cornered by police.
• Michael Anderson, 52, of Bluffdale, was shot and killed during a confrontation with a person with whom he had an ongoing dispute. The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office was still determining Monday whether it was a case of self-defense.
Salt Lake police detective Greg Wilking said his department is about on par with last year for the number of homicides and has not seen an increase in violence.
"We always hope those numbers go down," he said Monday.
On July 27, 8-year-old Xavier Lucero-Waters was shot and killed by his father, Moses Waters, 46, who then took his own life. Court records and those who know the family say Moses Waters had battled mental health and addiction problems for years.
On July 5, Paris Gustin Begay, 16, was killed when shots were fired from one vehicle to another near 600 North and 1100 West.
Other homicide investigations during July include:
• On July 20, the body of 29-year-old Steven Conlon, who had recently moved to Utah from Colorado, was found dumped in the front yard of a West Jordan home.
• On July 22, Jesus "Jesse" Eldon Aragon, 44, was arrested for investigation of murder in the death of his mother, Marcella Viola Aragon, 66, in Tooele.
• On July 24, Justin Hanna, 34, was shot and killed at an apartment in Cedar City allegedly by the ex-boyfriend of the woman who lived in the apartment, according to police.
• On Sunday, July 31, Christopher Warr, 28, stopped breathing following a fight with roommate Monty Degelbeck at their Tooele home. Warr, who police say possibly suffered an asthma attack during the physical fight, was pronounced dead at a hospital. Degelbeck was arrested and charged Monday with manslaughter.
In addition to the homicides, there were several shootings that could have increased the total number of deaths, including:
• On July 15, two men allegedly fired multiple rounds into a Taylorsville house. One bullet was found lodged in a mattress that a 2-year-old girl was sleeping on.
• On July 25, a man was shot in the leg after another man opened fire in a crowded Liberty Park where thousands had gathered for the annual Pioneer Day fireworks show.
