- Matthew Jacob Leonard, 28, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of his mother and a Salt Lake man.
- Bodies of Sarah Johnson and John Waldron Handricks have not been located.
- Police believe the two were killed in a Springville home where Johnson lived with her son.
SPRINGVILLE — A Springville man was charged Sunday with killing his mother and another man in her home.
As of Monday, however, the bodies of Sarah Johnson, of Springville, and John Waldron Handricks, 50, of Salt Lake City, remained missing.
Matthew Jacob Leonard, 28, is charged in 4th District Court with two counts of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; two counts of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; plus two counts of abuse or desecration of a dead body and five counts of felony discharge of a firearm, third-degree felonies.
Johnson is Leonard's mother, and the two lived in the same Springville residence. Witnesses say Leonard and Johnson picked up Handricks in Salt Lake City either the night of March 19 or early hours of March 20.
The witnesses say Johnson and Handricks eventually went into the house to go to sleep, and Leonard later followed.
"After some time had passed, the witnesses said that they tried calling (Leonard) to ask for a ride home. After (he) did not answer his phone, the witnesses said that they went to the front of the residence to knock on the door to ask for a ride home. As they were approaching the front door, one of the witnesses indicated that he heard five gunshots. The other witness recalls hearing loud bangs. Not long after they heard the gunshots, (Leonard) came out of the residence and briefly spoke with the witnesses. Both witnesses say they were afraid and left the area on foot as quickly as possible," according to charging documents.
By April 6, one of Johnson's family members "called into the Springville Police Department to report that another family member had received messages saying that (she) was dead, that she had been shot, but that her body had not yet been located," charging documents state.
Tracing Leonard's phone data, police learned that his phone was turned off for about 12 hours on March 20. "It also showed that a few days later, (he) spent about 16 hours in a remote area of Fruitland" in Duchesne County, the charges state.
On April 11, a search warrant was served on Leonard's home and vehicle.
"In the bedroom that belonged to (Johnson), the forensic team first located a small blood stain that tested positive for human blood. The team then found evidence of possible blood spatter on the wall in the northeast corner of the room. Additionally, a bullet was found lodged into the drywall on the north wall approximately 2 feet up from the floor," according to the charges. "Detectives next removed the baseboards and observed blood residue between the floor and the bottom of the baseboards."
"Samples of the blood pooling were sent for testing and tested positive for human blood. The two separate pools of blood are evidence of substantial injury to two people," charging documents state. "During the search of (Leonard's) bedroom, law enforcement located five empty .22 caliber shell casings in a bag that (Leonard) admitted belonged to him."
Police also learned that Leonard had recently subleased his mother's room, and someone else was renting it. That person "told law enforcement that the room was empty when they moved in, except for some women's clothing in the closet. When they asked (Leonard) whose clothes were in the closet and if they could move them out, (he) replied that they belonged to (his mother), but that she had 'probably overdosed and was probably dead somewhere,'" according to the charges.
Another witness told investigators he was with Leonard on April 15 and the two made a bonfire.
"He said that (Leonard) had a mattress that had been cut into two pieces, some furniture, and a bag of other miscellaneous items. (Leonard) told the witness he could not look at the items. (He) then began burning the items in the bonfire," the charges allege.
Detectives say they "were able to retrieve pieces of the mattress, a smashed cellphone, and some other items" from the bonfire. They also found "evidence of possible blood stains" in Leonard's SUV.
"As of the date of (the charges), the bodies of (Johnson and Handricks) have not been located. There is probable cause that (Leonard) moved the bodies from the location of the crime," charging documents state.
If convicted on the aggravated murder charges, prosecutors note in charging documents, "This offense may carry the death penalty, or ... a mandatory term of imprisonment for life without parole, or an indeterminate term of not less than 25 years and that may be for life (in prison)."
