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WEST VALLEY CITY — Charges have been filed in a nearly three-decades-old cold case homicide in West Valley City.
On Wednesday, Keith Klingenberg, 68, was charged with murder, a first-degree felony, in the 1995 death of his wife, Bernadean Klingenberg, at their home in West Valley City.
West Valley police announced Wednesday that Klingenberg had been taken into custody after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
"A job well done to the team of investigators who have spent years putting together the pieces of this complicated puzzle in an effort to bring justice for Bernadean," the department tweeted.
On June 11, 1995, about 1:20 p.m., Keith Klingenberg called 911 to report that his wife, 44-year-old Bernadean Klingenberg, had committed suicide by slashing her own throat in their home at 3985 S. Lance Street, according to charging documents. He claimed to dispatchers that she was "trying to fight him and get up."
Paramedics arrived at the house about seven minutes after 911 was called. But based on what they saw, "the paramedics concluded that Bernadean had likely died at least several minutes prior to their arrival as her condition was inconsistent with her having died as they were en route to the residence as alleged by Klingenberg," charging documents state.
The paramedics also noted that Klingenberg left the room after they arrived, did not ask questions about her condition and "made statements about her death that were inconsistent" with what emergency responders observed, the charges state.
The Utah State Medical Examiner's Office determined Bernadean Klingenberg's time of death to be between 11:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., or at least an hour prior to the 911 call in which Keith Klingenberg "asserted that Bernadean was still breathing and wrestling around," according to the charges.
The medical examiner classified her manner of death as "undetermined," however, and the case was closed when West Valley police ruled the death a suicide, the charges state.
In 2016, the West Valley Police Department's annual crime report noted that, "Upon review of the death of Bernadean Klingenberg in 1995, the case was reactivated and classified as a homicide."
At the time of Bernadean Klingenberg's death and again when the case was reopened, Erin Rennau, her daughter, told investigators her mother was not suicidal. Rennau said her mother called and told her the night before her death that she was leaving her husband.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said he spoke to Rennau on Wednesday, and she was "overcome with emotion" when she heard an arrest was made in her mother's death.
New detectives were assigned to go over the evidence again, and a blood spatter expert was brought in to look at photographs from the crime scene. The expert noted that blood evidence was found in an upstairs bathroom, even though "there was no evidence that Bernadean entered the bathroom after sustaining multiple sharp force injuries. The blood evidence in the bathroom was consistent with an attempt to clean up," the charges state.
The blood spatter expert concluded that a knife used to stab Bernadean Klingenberg may have been put down on the bathroom counter. The expert also determined that blood marks found on Keith Klingenberg were inconsistent with his statements of how he allegedly tried to help his wife, but rather suggested that he had straddled her at the time of her death, according to the charges.
The Utah State Medical Examiner's Office documented 10 "stabbing and incising injuries" on Bernadean Klingenberg's neck and torso area.
According to prosecutors, Keith Klingenberg "stabbed his wife multiple times, cut her throat and modified the crime scene to make it appear as if his wife had committed suicide."
"Although 28 years is a long time to wait for justice, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office will always seek justice for victims. We hope this helps Bernadean's loved ones begin to find a sense of closure in her death," Gill said in a statement Wednesday. "We'd like to thank our partners at the West Valley City Police Department for helping ensure we have the necessary evidence and information to prosecute this case."
Contributing: Debbie Worthen
