Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Kathryn Restelli and her mother, Tracey Grist, are charged with murder for allegedly plotting Matthew Restelli's death.
- The charges include conspiracy and obstruction of justice, with evidence suggesting a staged self-defense scenario involving a planted knife.
- Investigators found inconsistencies in the defendants' story and uncovered messages indicating Kathryn's reluctance to reconcile with Matthew.
AMERICAN FORK — The estranged wife of a man shot and killed inside an American Fork home in July, along with her mother, are now co-defendants with the wife's brother in plotting the shooting death of the man.
Kathryn Restelli, 36, of Temecula, California, and her mother, Tracey Grist, 59, of American Fork, were each charged on Monday in 4th District Court with murder, a first-degree felony; conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies; and two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, third-degree felonies.
The two women join Kevin Stanley Ellis, 33, Restelli's brother — who was charged with murder in July — as co-defendants in planning and carrying out a plot to kill Restelli's estranged husband, 42-year-old Matthew Restelli.
"Kathryn and Tracey worked together to lure Matt into driving to Utah and then to entering Tracey's house where Kevin was waiting armed with a handgun. Almost immediately after Matt arrived Kevin shot and killed Matt, who was unarmed. Kathryn, Tracey and Kevin then planted a knife in Matt's hand in an attempt to make it look like the shooting was in self-defense," according to charging documents filed Monday.
On July 12, Matthew Restelli was shot shortly after arriving at Grist's American Fork home. He had just driven to Utah from California because he thought his estranged wife wanted to go back home.
"Tracey told officers that Matt and Kathryn were going through a separation and that Matt had come to the house with a knife and that her son Kevin had shot him," the charges state.
An autopsy revealed that Matthew Restelli was shot seven times.
But investigators quickly realized that the evidence didn't match up with Ellis' story. A knife was found in Matthew Restelli's right hand. But prosecutors noted in court documents that Restelli was left-handed and, furthermore, was shot in his right wrist.
"In other words, Matt was holding the knife in his off hand in the wrong position, with a wound that would have practically prevented him from even gripping a knife. Taken together, the physical evidence indicates the knife was planted in Matt's hand after the shooting," prosecutors stated, putting an emphasis on the word "after" in the charges.
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Detectives also went through Kathryn Restelli and Grist's cellphones. They found messages in the estranged wife's phone talking about how she was in a "tough spot" and things didn't look good for her according to a divorce lawyer, the charges state.
After his wife had been in Utah for several weeks, Matthew Restelli wanted her to get a rental car and return to California, a police booking affidavit states. But after she convinced him she couldn't rent a car, he drove to Utah instead. Because of Apple AirTags tracking devices in his vehicle, Kathryn Restelli and her family monitored her estranged husband's progress.
According to the affidavit, Kathryn Restelli told a friend that after her estranged husband arrived, Ellis "went to the garage and got the firearm from a safe, when he returned to the front door/living room area where he then shot Matthew."
But police say the story doesn't add up with the timeline of events.
"If Matthew barged into the residence holding a knife, while the shooter ran to the garage to collect a firearm from a safe, then Matthew would have been able to get further into the residence rather than where he was found deceased," the affidavit states.
Four days after Matthew Restelli was killed, Kathryn Restelli was allegedly talking to a friend while getting ready to go on a date, according to charging documents.
"Kathryn confided in the friend that she never had any intention of returning back to California or getting back together with Matt," the charges state.
Restelli and her mother were arrested last week after what American Fork police called an "intensive, time-consuming and meticulous investigation."