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A calculated murder committed while people watched in horror is one of our Top Stories of 2008. The murder of Kristy Ragsdale, shot by her husband David in a church parking lot, rattled the community and occupied the justice system for most of the year.
The shots rang out in the parking lot of an LDS Chapel in Lehi on the morning of Jan. 6 as Kristy Ragsdale stepped out of her car to go to church. It was her 30th birthday.
Kristy's mother, Ann Palizzi, said, "My thoughts were it must be a stun gun or a pellet gun because you just can't put your mind around something that horrific happening right in front of your eyes. It's a visual that just keeps rewinding and rewinding." She stood just a few feet away and watched as her daughter was gunned down by her own husband.
David and Kristy Ragsdale were involved in what had become a bitter divorce. David surrendered to the police within an hour.
A few days later, both families stood together for the sake of the couple's children. On Jan. 9 John Ragsdale, David's brother, said, "We don't think it's possible for our family to express the grief and sorrow we feel at this time for the tragedy that brought us here today."
Kristy Ragsdale's sister-in-law, Stacey Palizzi, said, "The Palizzi family also wishes to let the Ragsdale family know that they are in our thoughts as they, too, are experiencing tremendous pain."
But that unity fell apart in what became a custody battle for the children. Eventually, Kristy's mother was awarded permanent custody of the two young boys.
Meanwhile, David Ragsdale fought the aggravated murder charges against him, arguing the numerous prescription medications he was taking led him to kill his wife. His sister, Tamara Ragsdale, said, "He was on Paxil, Doxopine, Ritalin, Provigil; two of those are speeds, two are antidepressants, and he was on two forms of testosterone. He was having severe, adverse reactions before the shooting, blacking out and that sort of activity."
That defense fell apart, and after several months and with the threat of the death penalty if he was convicted, David Ragsdale pleaded guilty on Nov. 26 to murdering his wife, which gives him a slim chance of someday getting out of prison.
His attorney Dusty Kawai said, "At this point right now, he is just really racked with the pains of his decisions -- not because ‘poor me, I'm going to spend the rest of my life in prison or a good portion of it,' but he understands he took away something that he can't replace, and there is a loss in Kristy's death that … what do you do about that?"
It's the end of the criminal case, in a shocking episode of domestic violence, which has left two young children to grow up without either one of their parents.
David Ragsdale will be formally sentenced to at least 20 years in prison with the possibility he will be there for the rest of his life on Jan. 29.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
