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TAYLORSVILLE — A man who once served time at the Utah State Prison for killing another man has been arrested again and accused of sexually assaulting a disabled man.
David Zackary McNeill, 51, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Monday for investigation of forcible sodomy, forcible sexual abuse and possession of drug paraphernalia.
In early August, a 25-year-old man, who police say "has an intellectual disability and functions on the level of a 10- (to) 13-year-old," went missing from a group home in Taylorsville. Investigators learned that the man had met McNeill at a local store, and McNeill invited him to go back to his place to smoke methamphetamine, according to a police booking affidavit.
McNeill took the man to a storage unit behind an apartment complex where he was living, near 1300 West and 3300 South, gave the man methamphetamine, and then sexually assaulted him, the affidavit states. After, McNeill wrote his phone number on a napkin and gave it to the man.
Police said they used that number to track down McNeill.
During their investigation, police also talked to transients in the Taylorsville and West Valley areas who are familiar with McNeill and said they were afraid of him, "claiming he was violent. They also told (police) that David has a tendency to have relationships with younger looking boys," according to the affidavit.
In 2000, McNeill was doing drugs with others in a Sugar House hotel room, when he choked a man, according to the affidavit, and threw him off the balcony. Chesney Hansen, 26, was found unconscious 22 feet below the balcony and later died at a local hospital.
But it wasn't until 2010 that the case was solved. McNeill, who was originally charged with murder, a first-degree felony, ended up taking a plea deal in court in 2012 and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of homicide by assault, a third-degree felony. He was sentenced to a term of up to five years in the Utah State Prison.
In researching their current case, Taylorsville police reviewed the Salt Lake case.
"Associates of David were interviewed during that investigation. They described David as being very violent, especially when relating to drugs, money and sex," investigators wrote in the affidavit.
Taylorsville police found McNeill at his storage unit and arrested him. Officers have requested he be held in jail with no option for bail.
