Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Sharalynda Moore said her cousin, Shelli Marie Brown, was the life of the party and the person she would look for first at every family gathering.
"She touched so many lives while she was here," Moore said Monday.
She shared how their family has changed since her cousin's death during a sentencing hearing for the man who was found guilty of her murder and the murder of Stevan Chambers. Both were 26 years old in 2015 when they were killed two days apart, and two blocks apart, in Magna.
"Every day I must remind myself to keep going and move on. All I want to do is just be with my cousin again," Moore said.
A jury decided on June 9 that Brandon Beau Warren, 32, is responsible for both murders. Warren wasn't charged with causing the deaths until over a year after they happened.
Third District Judge Randall Skanchy sentenced Warren to two terms of 15 years to life in prison for the murders, and four terms of five years to life in prison for four counts of felony discharge of a firearm, all first-degree felonies.
He determined that each of the murder charges, and two discharge of a firearm charges — one for each victim — would run consecutively, meaning Warren was ordered to spend at least 40 years and up to life in prison.
Deputy Salt Lake County attorney Vincent Meister argued for each of the sentences to run consecutively, which would total a minimum of 50 years in custody. He said Warren killed two people who had accepted him — a girlfriend and a friend — "in a very brutal fashion." Meister said Warren took two people from the Magna community, and continues to take no responsibility for his actions.
Defense attorney Dayna Moore argued for each of the sentences to run concurrently. At the trial in June, she maintained Warren was innocent.
Chambers' body was discovered with four gunshot wounds, including a fatal shot to the head, in the road near 8990 W. 2900 South in the early hours of Aug. 17, 2015. Brown was found with three gunshot wounds, including in her head and mouth, in the nearby Magna Copper Park, 8941 W. 2600 South, on Aug. 19, 2015.
Ballistics confirmed Chambers and Brown were shot to death with the same .380 caliber handgun, charges state. CBC brand shell casings found at both scenes, as well as at a scene where shots were fired days earlier, were also a match.
Police found two bags with Brown's body when it was discovered on the park bleachers. In one of those bags was a partially consumed sports drink that had Warren's fingerprints on the bottle, according to the charges. The rim of the bottle revealed both Warren's and Brown's DNA.
Families continue to mourn
Moore said Warren "destroyed two entire families with his heartless actions."
She said she thought hearing about her cousin's death would be the hardest day of her life, but seeing photos of her body, abandoned on the bleachers hours after her death, and hearing details of her killing during the trial are now the worst days of her life. She told the judge sitting through the trial was "absolutely traumatizing."
Another cousin, Cheyenne Young, said getting updates on the search for the man who killed their cousin would feel like tearing off a scab. She has not been able to feel safe in Magna since the murder.
Young said she had heard there was a second body found in the morning of Aug. 19, but did not expect to hear that evening it was her cousin.
"My heart shattered into a million pieces," she recalled.
She asked the judge to help the families live in peace by giving Warren the maximum sentence possible.
A letter from Brenda Chambers, Stevan Chambers' mom, was read by a woman who explained the mother couldn't face coming to the sentencing.
"I cry every day at the loss of my baby, my youngest son. I'm not the same person I was," the letter said.
She talked about how she and her children have experienced a large emotional and financial impact as they have needed to quit jobs. Their family is now living below the poverty level.
Brenda Chambers said her son became a father shortly after his death; now his daughter is 7 years old and says she wishes she could have met her dad. She said he would have been a great father, adding that everyone her son came in contact with felt like he was their best friend.
In the letter, she asked for Warren to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Warren did not make any statement at his sentencing, and is asking the court to reconsider his conviction.
The judge ruled that there was enough evidence for the jury to logically find him guilty on Monday, resolving a motion to arrest judgment, but his motion requesting a new trial is scheduled to be discussed in a hearing on Dec. 5.
