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CEDAR CITY — After a 3 ½-day jury trial, Gavin Michael Haar was found guilty of the murder of 2-year-old Christopher Leader Jr. on Thursday.
The jury found Haar guilty of first-degree felony murder and second-degree felony child abuse and not guilty of one count of third-degree felony child abuse.
On June 12, 2018, Christopher Leader Jr. was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead at 1:49 a.m. His cause of death was found to be internal bleeding from lacerations to his internal organs caused by blunt force trauma. The state medical examiner determined the manner of death to be a homicide.
Christopher’s mother, Brittany Hall, and her boyfriend, Haar, were questioned by investigators about his death. It was discovered that Hall left the couple’s residence around 11:45 p.m. to go to work on June 11, 2018, and Haar was watching Christopher. Around 12:30 a.m. on June 12, 2018, Haar texted Hall that she needed to come home because Christopher wasn’t breathing. Shortly after, Hall received another text from Haar saying that if anyone asked about the bruises, “we got them four-wheeling.”
