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SALT LAKE CITY — A northern Utah man who prosecutors say intended to kill his stepson and his family now faces numerous criminal charges.
Charles Warren Leff, 64, Perry, Box Elder County, was charged Monday in 1st District Court with five counts of attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; four counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony; drug possession, a class A misdemeanor; DUI and possession of drug paraphernalia, both class B misdemeanors.
The investigation began Friday when deputies from the Cache County Sheriff’s Office were informed that Leff had been in a fight with his wife at their home in Perry and was on his way to his stepson’s house in Mendon, according to a police affidavit.
“Charles’ wife contacted her daughter-in-law by phone and told her Charles was on his way over to her house with a gun to kill her and her family,” the affidavit states. The daughter-in-law then called 911 and told dispatchers she had seen Leff drive past her house.
“In the call you can hear (the daughter-in-law’s) voice and the sheer terror as she explains that her mother-in-law had called her telling her to be careful because Charles was on his way over to her house to take her and the kids out,” police wrote.
The daughter-in-law said she locked her doors and had her children go in the basement and turn off the lights.
When the children were later interviewed by police, “They each also spoke about hearing their grandmother on speakerphone this morning crying and telling their mother not to go outside because Grandpa was on his way over with a gun to shoot them. They also talked about how they all went downstairs and were very scared,” the affidavit states.
Before leaving his house, Leff allegedly told his wife, “‘If those ... children step in my house again, I will blow them away!’ Charles continued to argue with his wife and said, ‘If you get in my way, I will blow you away too. I am going to go kill those kids,’” the report states. “As Charles was heading to the door to leave the house he stated ... ‘I’m going to kill your ... son and his ... children!’”
A deputy responded to the house and found Leff parked in front. Four guns, drug and drug paraphernalia were found in the car, according to deputies.
Charles' wife contacted her daughter-in-law by phone and told her Charles was on his way over to her house with a gun to kill her and her family.
–Police affidavit
As detectives further investigated the situation, they learned that Leff had allegedly grown increasingly angry at his daughter-in-law and their family. He forced his wife to take down all the pictures in their house of the daughter-in-law’s family and to get a new phone number, the affidavit states.
Leff told police the dispute started when the daughter-in-law would not let her children — Leff’s grandchildren — go to his house because he had a dog and one of her children was allergic to animals, the affidavit states.
But Leff said the daughter-in-law has cats at her house. The last time the grandchildren were allowed to have a sleepover at Leff’s house, “Charles told his grandkids that he was going to take their cats, place them in a bag, and then throw the bag out in the road and run over them. This was extremely upsetting to the children and (the daughter-in-law) did not allow them to go over to Charlie’s house ever again,” deputies wrote in the report.
Leff initially told police he had been arguing with his wife that day because she wanted him to apologize for threatening to kill the cats, the affidavit states. Leff, however, claimed he was moving out and leaving for Oregon.
But Leff also admitted he took four handguns with him when he packed his suitcase, according to the affidavit.
“Charles told me he never said he was going to go and kill (the daughter-in-law) and his grandchildren, but told his wife he was going to go to their house and take care of it. Charles admitted that he could see how his wife may have believed he meant he was going over to kill her son and his family, but he said he was on his way over to apologize,” the affidavit states.
Leff’s wife, however, told detectives that she “was very afraid for her life as well as her son and his family’s lives” and then told them about prior domestic violence incidents including one in which “Charles had held a loaded gun to her head,” the report states.
The daughter-in-law also told police that the wife had told her at one point “if she died to make sure the police did an autopsy on her body because if she died that meant Charlie had killed her,” the affidavit states.
According to court records, Leff was convicted of threatening to use a dangerous weapon in 1993, and lewdness involving a child in 1995.
