2 bodies, 2 months, no arrests in Magna murder cases


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MAGNA — Tiffany Chambers sees the pavement on 2900 South near the corner of 9100 West differently than others.

She immediately sees the burnt candle wax that remains in the middle of the road. And even though it's hard for others to notice, she still sees the blood stains from her brother's body inside the area where a circle of candles were lit nearly two months ago.

For Chambers, it's impossible not to see.

Two homicides

Her brother, Stevan Chambers, 26, was shot and left to die in the middle of the street during the early morning hours of Aug. 17. Two days later, the body of Shelli Marie Brown, 26, was found shot to death in nearby Magna Copper Park, 8941 W. 2600 South. Unified police detectives soon announced that they believed the killings were related.

But as of Friday, more than two months after the deaths, there have been no arrests and no charges filed. Until that happens, Chambers says her family cannot move on.

"When you lose somebody like this, you don't move forward. You don't get the information that you need to move on, it just goes on and on and on. And I think until somebody gets charged, this is just going to be my life now," she said Wednesday.

Police 'confident' suspect already in custody

Unified Police Lt. Lex Bell said investigators believed they were close to solving both killings. Their main suspect — a person who they believe shot both Chambers and Brown — was actually already in the Salt Lake County Jail on unrelated charges committed prior to their deaths.

"We do feel like we have our actual suspect in custody," he said. "Right now, we don't feel like there's a public safety issue for the people of Magna. We feel fairly confident that the person who is responsible for it is in custody already."

What homicide detectives are waiting for before they take their case to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office are forensic test results from some of the evidence that was collected.

Investigation is ongoing

But Bell said detectives also believe there were others involved and their investigation is not over.

On Wednesday, Tiffany Chambers and her mother, Brenda Chambers, went to the makeshift memorial set up off to the side of the road a few feet from where Stevan Chambers' body was found, to spruce it up with new candles, pictures of him and balloons. It's a spot the Chambers family visits often.

"It's a place that we can kind of know that we have someplace to mourn him. And also it's a place we can gather with the community and try to find some justice so the community doesn't forget him," Brenda Chambers said.

Brenda Chambers cries with her daughter Tiffany at a memorial dedicated to their son and brother, Stevan Chambers, in Magna on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. Chambers, 26, died of gunshot wounds on August 17. Chambers' family is asking the public to come forward if they have any information about his murder. (Photo: Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
Brenda Chambers cries with her daughter Tiffany at a memorial dedicated to their son and brother, Stevan Chambers, in Magna on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. Chambers, 26, died of gunshot wounds on August 17. Chambers' family is asking the public to come forward if they have any information about his murder. (Photo: Laura Seitz, Deseret News)

Loved ones of victims feel 'stuck'

Tiffany and Brenda Chambers said Stevan's death has consumed their lives.

"When people die, you get to start breathing and move on. But (we're) stuck in the middle of this nightmare because it's not going away, because we don't know what happened. No one is being charged. We're stuck. And it's just like the nightmare doesn't end," Brenda Chambers said in a soft voice while holding back tears.

"Now that the shock's worn off, it's really hard because I know that my baby son is never coming back."

The two women said they strongly believe there are people who know more about what happened to Chambers and Brown than what they're telling police. And until someone is arrested and charged, they have vowed to continue doing all that they can to keep the story on the forefront of people's minds and prompt someone to come forward.

A call to come forward

"There are people who know the truth about what happened to my brother and what happened to Shelli, and we're desperate for them to come forward and desperate for the police to get the information they need so there's justice," Tiffany Chambers said.

She has posted more than 1,200 fliers around Magna asking people with information to contact police.

On Nov. 6, her family, along with the Magna Community Watch program, plan to march, starting with a vigil at Copper Park where Brown's body was found, and ending at Stevan Chambers' memorial. He was part of the Magna community, his family said. He grew up in Magna, played football for the local high school and was well known and liked in the community.

A motive for his killing was still unknown as of Wednesday. Two search warrants that were earlier unsealed in 3rd District Court indicated that other people whom investigators had talked to made claims that Chambers had assaulted a woman and then was held against his will by others seeking revenge. Bell confirmed Wednesday that detectives have since learned that those stories are false, even though several people were passing them around.

"Our investigation has found there's not any truth to some of those stories out there," he said.

Tiffany Chambers said she already knew those stories were false. But it still hurts her family that they became public.

A memorial for Stevan Chambers remains on the street where he was murdered in Magna on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. Chambers, 26, died of gunshot wounds on August 17. Chambers' family is asking the public to come forward if they have any information about his murder. (Photo: Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
A memorial for Stevan Chambers remains on the street where he was murdered in Magna on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. Chambers, 26, died of gunshot wounds on August 17. Chambers' family is asking the public to come forward if they have any information about his murder. (Photo: Laura Seitz, Deseret News)

'I don't get to move on'

"My brother was an innocent kid. And there are all these things being said that aren't true. It hurts so much to think of my brother dying alone in this street. I can't even begin to express to you what it feels to lose somebody like this. I don't get to move on. I feel so stuck," she said while crying.

"How could you? How could you do this to my family?" she openly asked the person responsible for his death. "How could you hurt him? He didn't do anything wrong. … He didn't do anything to anybody. He was a good kid."

Chambers said her brother was someone who started hanging out with the wrong crowd, namely people who used drugs. Now, she hopes that anyone with information, even if that someone has a warrant out for his or her own arrest, will step forward.

"People are either too scared to talk or maybe they've been in trouble themselves and they're not coming forward," she said.

"There are people who have information in this community who are scared to come forward. They don't need to be because the police don't want to arrest any of those people who have information. (Police) just want information," Brenda Chambers added.

Bell agreed.

"In all honesty, we're talking about the lives of two people. They're dead and the families are grieving and looking for answers, and we're not out to get anyone else hurt or in trouble. By all means, any information that comes forward is going to be kept confidential," he said. "We are also not worried about petty warrants. If someone actually knows what's going on, we're more than willing to work with them on those warrants. … We'd rather have a murderer in jail rather than someone who has some traffic warrants or property crime warrants."

Tiffany Chambers gave high praise for the work that has been done so far by the Unified Police Department's homicide detectives, saying she holds them in the "highest regards."

Anyone with information on the deaths of Stevan Chambers or Shelli Brown is asked to call police at 801-743-7000.

Contributing: Sandra Yi

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