A year later, no charges filed in Sandy stalking case


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KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • A year after a severe stalking report in Sandy and a KSL investigation, no charges have been filed.
  • The Sandy Police Department changed its policies over its handling of Azalea's case with the intention of never repeating the mistakes.
  • Despite the improvements, Azalea remains skeptical about her stalker being held accountable.

SANDY — Lessons learned and policies changed were the result of a KSL investigation into a stalking case in Sandy. But a year later, no charges have been filed.

On May 16, 2025, a woman reported a case of severe stalking to Sandy police. She asked to only be identified in this story by her first name, Azalea.

KSL investigated the response to her report, finding dangerous delays and failures to comply with state law. The department made changes to better handle these cases moving forward.

"I feel like I can finally breathe again and it's been amazing," Azalea said during a recent interview.

The last time she participated in an interview, Azalea came to KSL's downtown office, too afraid for her safety to meet anywhere else.

"Unless someone has experienced this for themselves, they don't have any idea what it's like to live in constant fear," she said last year.

"I didn't even know I could feel that amount of fear that I felt," she said during an interview last week, reflecting on her situation in the summer of 2025.

That fear has now turned to freedom. Azalea moved out of state. She's happy in a relationship with the same partner who stuck by her through months of harassment and stalking. She's moved on with life.

After Azalea chose to speak up about her case, Sandy police took action. The department changed its policies, with the intention of never repeating the mistakes made in handling Azalea's case again.

"I feel so disappointed and so let down in so many ways," Azalea said.

While those changes have likely helped others, Azalea said she's given up hope that her stalker will be held accountable.

Azalea had received dozens of harassing and threatening emails. Many of them were vulgar and indicated she was being watched. One read, "That's not where you usually park …" on a day she parked her car closer to the building she worked in, out of fear for her safety. Many of the messages included vague threats of teaching Azalea a lesson and "karma." Others in her life, including her attorney, received messages containing intimate images of Azalea.

While she considered that speaking out a year later could prompt her stalker to start harassing her again, Azalea said she wants to continue using her voice to raise awareness about the importance of taking stalking cases seriously. She knows many other survivors in Utah cannot move away to find peace.

"A lot of situations ended a lot different than mine," Azalea said. "It's not something that should be taken lightly and it's something that does matter and that so many women struggle with, and it shouldn't just be something else that's swept under the rug."

The Sandy Police Department did not agree to participate in an interview, citing the active investigation, but a spokesman said the department is continuing to pursue accountability and that the case is not as straightforward as people might think.

In an emailed statement, he wrote in part, "We will not be providing additional comment on the case specifics at this time, but we have recently served warrants related to this case," and, "We work hard to ensure the safety of our victims in all of our cases."


Have you experienced something you think just isn't right? The KSL Investigators want to help. Submit your tip at investigates@ksl.com or 385-707-6153 so we can get working for you.

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Daniella Rivera, KSLDaniella Rivera
Daniella Rivera joined the KSL team in September 2021. She’s an investigative journalist with a passion for serving the public through seeking and reporting truth.
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