The case of a teenage couple killed and tossed down an abandoned mine shaft culminated in murder convictions on Friday for a Utah man who prosecutors said killed the pair because he found them hanging out with his girlfriend.
Jerrod Baum faces up to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of two counts of aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping and other counts in the 2017 slayings after a month-long trial.
Brelynne “Breezy” Otteson and Riley Powell disappeared days after Christmas. Their bound and stabbed bodies were found months later in Utah’s west desert, 30 metres down an abandoned mine shaft.
Prosecutors said they died after meeting up with a friend, Morgan Lewis, on December 30 at her home in Eureka, a former silver mining town. While they were there, her boyfriend, Baum, returned home. He grew angry because he had forbidden Ms Lewis from having male friends over, and she previously dated Mr Powell.
Ms Lewis told police her boyfriend tied up Mr Otteson and Mr Powell, duct-taped their mouths and threw them in the back of Mr Powell’s Jeep. Then he drove them to the site of an abandoned mine outside town.
There, he beat and stabbed Mr Powell before cutting Mr Ottenson’s throat, then tossed them down.
“He retaliated against Riley and Morgan and made her watch so she would know this is what happens when you break my rules,” said prosecutor Ryan McBride, Fox13 reported.
The couple’s family and friends searched for months before Ms Lewis was pulled over during an unrelated traffic stop on March 25. She eventually agreed to co-operate with police.
Much of the prosecution’s case was based on her testimony, which was questioned by the defence. Attorney Dallas Young said there was a lack of DNA evidence linking the slayings to Baum
“You cannot believe (Lewis), and you cannot be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt,” he argued, according to KSL.
Prosecutors countered that Ms Lewis and Baum had burnt and bleached important evidence, obliterating DNA.
Prosecutors originally sought the death penalty, but Utah County Attorney David Leavitt later took it off the table as he vowed to no longer pursue capital punishment.
