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UTAH STATE PRISON -- Convicted killer Ed Owens has been questioned by investigators about bombshell claims he made about the murder of Karin Strom.
KSL NewsRadio has learned Owens was questioned Tuesday at the Utah State Prison about his claims that Strom was killed in what was to be a murder-for-hire plot. During his sentencing in Farmington's 2nd District Court last month, Owens confessed to killing Strom, but said her husband, Steven, had tried to persuade him to kill her.
"We'll take everything he says and follow where it goes, follow the leads, the ramifications, the inferences that we can come up with," said Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings.
Owens claimed at his sentencing that Steven Strom approached him about killing his wife and splitting the money from her life insurance policy. He claimed he went over to warn Karin Strom but got into an argument and killed her.
Rawlings told KSL NewsRadio that Strom is a suspect but only to the degree that Owens claims he is.
"That makes him a suspect to the degree that we have to investigate to see if we can substantiate those claims and put together a prosecutable case against Strom or not," Rawlings said. "That's what we're in the process of doing."
The case has seen its share of twists and turns. Karin Strom, 25, was found murdered in her Woods Cross home back in 1980. At first, prosecutors charged her husband but later dropped the case for lack of evidence. It went cold for years, until advances in DNA technology led Woods Cross police to reopen the case.
Owens was charged in connection with the case a few years ago, but prosecutors dropped it after evidence problems. They resurrected it again with new DNA evidence, and a jury convicted Owens. He confessed at sentencing last month and was sentenced to five years to life in prison.
Relatives of Strom have expressed skepticism over Owens' claims of a murder-for-hire plot. Owens has been questioned once before about his claims, and Rawlings said he will likely be questioned again.
"We'll make the decision that the evidence leads to," Rawlings said.
E-mail:bwinslow@ksl.com
