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SALT LAKE CITY — The wife of a double-murder suspect was formally charged Thursday with withholding information and trying to hide evidence from police.
Sina Anne Johnson, 29, of West Jordan, is charged in 3rd District Court with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.
Johnson is the wife of Albert Enoch Johnson, 31, who was arrested early Wednesday in Stockton, California, in connection with the shooting deaths of Tony Butterfield, 31, and Katherine Butterfield, 30, early Saturday.
West Jordan police originally responded to 3277 W. 6920 South on a report of shots fired and a woman screaming about 1:15 a.m. They spotted lights on at the Butterfield residence but no one answered the front door, according to charging documents. Officers went into the backyard where they discovered the body of Tony Butterfield. His wife’s body was found inside the back doorway. Both died of gunshot wounds, the charges state.
On Sunday, police interviewed Sina Johnson after determining that her husband was a suspect in the killings.
“As the interview continued, Johnson’s story kept changing about her knowledge of the homicide and her contact with Albert,” the charges state.
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Man wanted in connection with West Jordan double homicide arrested in California
A man wanted in connection with a double homicide of a young West Jordan couple was arrested in California Wednesday morning, police said.Johnson eventually admitted that her husband “was familiar” with the Butterfields because her husband had attempted to get a job with their company, police say.
The Butterfields owned a landscaping business. They lived approximately four minutes away from the Johnsons.
Between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on the morning of the killings, Johnson said her husband came home and “was rushing.”
“Albert told her that someone stabbed him and that his life was over. He showered, changed his clothes and left the apartment,” according to charging documents.
When she found out her husband was involved in the killings, she took his bloody clothing to the garbage and “cleaned her apartment because there was blood downstairs, on the hallway walls and in the bathroom,” the charges state
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Police ID husband, wife killed by intruder overnight in West Jordan
On Saturday afternoon they confirmed that husband and wife Tony and Katherine Butterfield, 31 and 30, were found dead at a home near 3200 West and 6900 South.West Jordan police earlier said they believed Albert Johnson was cut or stabbed during his confrontation with the Butterfields. When he was arrested Wednesday by U.S. marshals, Sgt. J.C. Holt said Johnson resisted arrest. His mugshot shows obvious injuries to his face, including his right eye that was swollen shut. Holt did not have information on Wednesday, however, about whether any stab wounds were visible.
When she was arrested, police noted that Johnson “has already made statements that she plans to buy a plane ticket to Arizona and would not specify where in Arizona she would go,” according to a police affidavit.
Prosecutors have requested Sina Johnson be held on $100,000 bail.
Albert Johnson remained in custody in California on Thursday. West Jordan officers traveled to Stockton on Wednesday to interview Johnson and extradite him back to Utah.
