We wrapped up 2019 with one of the most recent brutal murders in Utah history. Which is weird to say after all the people we’ve covered this year. In Ogden, Utah on April 22, 1974 it was reported that two men entered the Hi-Fi stereo shop on Washington Blvd. and committed a series of atrocious crimes spanning 4 lengthy hours.
2 young employees, 20-year-old Stanley Walker and 18-year-old Sherry Ansley, were working. Courtney Naisbitt, a 16-year-old boy was also in the store. The men who entered the store had intentions to rob Hi-Fi but things turned quickly. When the parents of Naisbitt and Walker came unexpectedly, because neither showed up at home on time, it threw the robbers plans off. At this point, the goal would be to kill all that were witnesses to the crimes. Drain fluid. Rape. Murder. There was no good ending to this. After all the damage was done, the suspects fled and were later found. The suspects were stationed on Hill Air Force base and a fellow airman had remembered over hearing the men talking about ways to kill with draino while they were watching a movie, Magnum Force. Some of the killers personal items were also found by a dumpster. They weren’t the most organized robbers/killers.
When all was said and done, there were only two survivors Mr. Walker and Courtney Naisbitt. Both would live their lives with brain damage and all of the other ailments that come from being stomped, shot, and fed draino. Mr. Walker died in 2000 and Courtney in 2002.
To this day no one actually knows who had the idea, if there were other people involved, and if there were any other witnesses. This created racial tension in Ogden and a lot of profiling took place after this event. Selby Pierre was executed in 1987. William Andrews in 1992. And a third, Keith Roberts, who is said to possibly be the mastermind went free in 1987 after serving a 13 year sentence.
For our monthly segment on an infamous Utahn we decided to deep dive into Orrin Porter Rockwell. Hero to some, the Mormon’s bodyguard to Joseph Smith, and epitome of the Wild, Wild West.
Porters birth date is still not quite know with a guess of June 28, 1813 or June 25, 1815. He was born in Belchertown, Hampshire County, Massachusetts to Orin and Sarah Rockwell. Died June 9, 1878 of natural causes in Salt Lake City, Utah and is buried in Salt Lake City Cemetery.
Believe it or not, Porters life did not consist solely of violent shoot-outs and he is not only remembered as a lawman. Rockwell was a noted guide and mountain man, and at one time operated the Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery in southern Salt Lake Valley. So we will let you decide, was he a hero… or a villain?
You can find pieces of statuary and plaques in honor of Porter around the state of Utah. Some of these include Lehi, Bluffdale, his home that was moved to Eureka, and his burial place.
Because Porter Rockwell’s history spans the country it’s a lot to write out. Take a listen to our episode and enjoy some great resources we found for history on Porter Rockwell:
Our infamous Utahn for the month of June and episode 161, is not as well known as maybe a Ted Bundy or a Mark Hofman. However, Douglas Carter’s case has recently come back into the spotlight with his appeals process and new evidence.
We couldn’t find a lot of personal history in Douglas Carter. What we know is he was born in Chicago and made his way to Utah. In 1985 he was accused of committing the heinous crime of murdering Eva Olesen in Provo, Utah. Carter was convicted and put on death row after two witnesses claimed that he bragged to them about how Olesen was murdered. However, these witnesses disappeared for almost 20 years right before they were supposed to testify and right after his conviction! Not fishy, right?
Fast forward to March of 2019, yes just a couple months ago, and the news of a new appeal being fast tracked for Carter comes to light. Although he does already have a high spot in the appeals process, new information regarding the disappearing witnesses has now sparked interest for the 4th district court to review new evidence. Evidence? Did you know that Carter’s DNA was never found at the scene. There was physically no evidence tying him to the death of Eva. The murder happened in February and he wasn’t even suspect until April when his wife though her gun could have been the one used in the murder.
What is this new evidence? It is being reported that the Tovar’s who said that Carter told them what he did, was actually bribed by the Provo police department. With pay-off’s, Christmas gifts, rent being paid, etc. There is no new date set yet.
We have an ongoing conversation about the death penalty. What if Douglas really didn’t do it and he is put to death? What if he wins the appeals process and is put back into society? Can a person who has been in prison for 35+ years become a functioning member of society? Listen below to our conversation about Mr. Carter.
In episode 157 we delve deep into the workings of our infamous Utahn Mark Hofmann. Mr. Hofmann is an American counterfeiter, forger, and convicted murderer.
Born December 7th 1954 right here in Salt Lake City Utah Hofmann was raised LDS by two devoutly religious parents. Hofmann was a below-average student. Hofmann graduated from Olympus High School and went on to serve an LDS Mission.
His career in forgeries began early when as a youth he
modified a penny to look like a rare 1959-D misprint penny with an estimated
value of $25,000.
With a taste of success in his mouth and a little more ‘real
world’ experience he went on to DARE WE SAY… FOOLED GOD HIMSELF.
As a collector and dealer in rare transcripts and documents
Hoffman has access to material that would give him credence and put him in a
position where no one would question him. Upon seeing the amount of money that
could be made in his chosen profession Hoffman goes on to forge some of the
most infamous documents in LDS history.
The Anthon Transcript. A document supposedly found by Hofmann in a 17th century King James Bible. The transcript was believed to be the unusual reformed Egyptian characters that were copied by Joseph Smith from the golden plates and used to translate the book of Mormon. This transcript was presented to Charles Anthon in 1828.
Joseph Smith III Blessing.
In 1981 Hoffman arrived at the headquarters of the LDS Church with a
document which supposedly provided evidence that Joseph Smith had designated
his son Joseph Smith III, rather than Brigham Young, as the next prophet and
leader of the church.
Perhaps the most notorious of Hofmann Mormon forgeries was the Salamander Letter. Appearing in 1984 and supposedly written by Martin Harris to W.W. Phelps, the letter presented a version of the recovery of the gold plates that contrasted the church-sanctioned version of the events. Not only did it suggest that Smith had been practicing money digging through magical practice, but it also replaced the angel in Smiths account with a white Salamander. The LDS Church offered Hofmann more that $20,000 dollars in both money and rare historical items.
No one know for sure how many forged documents Hofmann created, but there are estimates ranging from dozens, to hundreds. In October of 1985 things turn ugly for our Friendly Neighborhood Forger and with the prospect of being found out he makes and delivers (2) pipe bombs, killing Steve Christensen and Kathy Sheets. A third pipe bomb (meant for another victim) accidentally detonated in his car seriously injuring Hofmann and sending the police right to his (car) door.
Hofmann was arrested in January 1986 and charged on four indictments totaling 27 counts, including first-degree murder, delivering a bomb, constructing or possessing a bomb, theft by deception, and communication fraud. A fifth indictment, containing an additional five counts of theft by deception, was added later in January.
In 1988, before the Utah Board of Pardons, Hofmann said that
he thought planting the bomb that killed Kathy Sheets was “almost a game …
at the time I made the bomb, my thoughts were that it didn’t matter if it was
Mrs. Sheets, a child, a dog … whoever” was killed. Within the hour the
parole board, struck by Hofmann’s “callous disregard for human life,”
decided that he would indeed serve his “natural life in prison.”
In December of 2015 Hofmann was transferred from the Draper prison to the Gunnison Facility where he will live out the remainder of his days.
Although Gary Gilmore might not be considered a “serial killer” or even a prolific criminal, it is everything that happened after his killings in Orem and Provo, Utah that would cement his story in criminal history.
Gary was not born and raised in Utah, but his final days would be spent in the Utah State prison in the late 70’s. Born December 4th 1940 in Waco, Texas Gary’s life was already set on an unfortunate path. We wonder if he even had a chance as he started his life out with an alias right out the gate. The thing with these criminals is they are super smart and start their criminal history at a young age. Gary was already in a reform school at the age of 14 because of an auto theft. Fast forward another 6 years and he is in Oregon to at a correctional facility for larceny.
During these incarcerations we are wondered, was it just the time in our history that mental health help wasn’t offered to convicts? After being in and out of jail for the next 10 years from 1962 to 1972 for a number of crimes, this is where Gary was put on an anti-psychotic drug, Prolixin, and was finally transferred east to Illinois. Enter his time in Utah.
In 1976 he was transferred into the custody of his cousin, Brenda *who would be the person to turn in him*, which we can only speculate as an adult was because he was on anti-psychosis drugs? It wasn’t 4 months later that Gary went on his murder spree in Provo and Orem, Utah. It was a swift 4 months between his crimes and his conviction. Almost unheard of.
Time Magazine did a write up in 2015 about Gary’s execution. Gary said he wanted to die with dignity. You may be familiar with the Nike saying “just do it” this was a play off of some of the final words from Gilmore.
Gary’s murders and execution by the state of Utah in 1977 ended a nationwide moratorium on the death penalty that had lasted nearly 10 years. What else we found to be slightly frustrating is that Gary didn’t even fight his execution. He actually asked for it to happen swiftly. He even tried to commit suicide, but to no avail. Gary’s crimes, to conviction, to execution may be one of the swiftest cases in modern history. There have been songs such as 1977 The Adverts top 20 UK hit, “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes.” There were also books, and TV movies made about Gary. Murderpedia is one of our favorite resources to find this information. If you want to read more, Clark County Prosecutor.org has a great timeline on their website as well.
Stay tuned for our next Infamous Utah Criminal segment at the end of each month!
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We had Dave Cawley, the host of the Cold Podcast, join us for episode 147 and during that episode we decided to do our monthly feature on an infamous Utah criminal. Although Josh was never formally charged, with all the new things that Dave brought to light in his research about the Powell’s for the 18, in depth, episodes of the Cold Podcast we felt pretty confident adding Josh to our list.
December 2009, America became familiar with the name Josh Powell. Josh claimed that he had taken his boys camping on a snowy, winter evening in the west Utah desert and when they got back his wife, Susan, was missing from their West Valley, Utah home. It was the day care that alerted the authorities when their boys didn’t show up Monday morning for care. Over the next 3 years Josh, his father Steven, and his brother Michael would be questioned and under surveillance in hopes that there would be some information about Susan and her whereabouts. What husband move’s their kids out of state one month after their wife goes missing? Josh Powell, that’s who. As a viewing audience we only got a tiny glimpse into the insanity that was the Powell family through the news stories, and after Josh decided to take his life with his two boys in 2012, the story went quiet. It wasn’t until the last few months that Dave Cawley, the host of the Cold Podcast, gave murderino’s, family members, friends, and a community that felt the loss of Susan, a better glimpse into those three years after Susan Powell’s disappearance.
Through Dave’s passionate investigating we’ve learned that Josh was very smart. We learned that he was most likely planning to make Susan disappear but perhaps something happened and he had to make a rash decision which lead to the fateful December 2009 day. Josh treated Susan as a possession. He couldn’t hold a job, he took her money and bought completely unnecessary things. Josh covered things up well, including encrypting his own computer. He lied and created fake Facebook accounts to spy on people with his brother. He was a pawn to his own father Steve, and he kept his children like possessions, just like Susan grooming them, and so on.
From the information that Dave uncovered, Susan knew that her husband would be her demise. From a last will and testament and conversations with friends. There have been endless searches into mine’s, old routes that Josh drove from Utah to Washington and sadly Susan, 10 years later, is still missing. Josh Powell, his brother, and his father all took to the grave what may have happened to Susan. Even though Josh may not have been charged with Susan’s disappearance, he is still a murderer by taking the lives of his own children. We can only follow Dave Cawley’s lead in pledging that we will keep an ear open for those who may be in a domestic abuse situation.
Even though the Cold Podcast episodes on the Powell case is done, Dave and his team’s work isn’t. He continues to release information about the Powell case. Here is a great link to stories that accompany each episode of The Cold Podcast. You can follow them on their Facebook page for more information about the Powell case.
Welcome to our new monthly segment of infamous, or famous, Utah Criminals!
We thought we would start with an oldie but a goodie. Your knowledge of Butch Cassidy may come from the Robert Redford/Paul Newman feature, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid from 1969, but hopefully we can add some new tidbits for you.
Born in good old Beaver, Utah in 1866 by the given name of Robert Leroy Parker he was the oldest of 13. His grandparents and parents were Mormon Pioneers from England that moved across the plains to help build communities in Utah. Robert moved with his family to the small town of Circleville, Utah *outside Bryce Canyon* when he was just 13 in 1879.
His career as a thief started young, but he had good intentions. Stealing a pair of overalls while the local store was closed, he left a note saying he would be paying the owner back, however the owner didn’t like that and he got authorities involved. Robert ended up being let off, however it left a sour taste in his mouth going forward. Robert moved to Wyoming and worked as a butcher, which is where he is said to have gotten his name “Butch” from. The last name “Cassidy” may have come from a rustler that mentored him by the name of Mike Cassidy.
On June 24, 1889 Cassidy pulled off his first bank robbery, when he and several companions made a break with more than $20,000 from the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride, Colorado. As a horse thief and rustler, he was known as the “Robin Hood of the West.” As an outlaw fighting for settler rights, the horses he was stealing were generally part of cattle barons and Cassidy wanted to make sure that ranchers were getting their land and animals back. Butch Cassidy is said to be a non-violent outlaw and it’s rumored he was that way because of his Mormon upbringing. His co-horts however were not as nice.
Butch Cassidy joined a band of outlaws called the “Wild Bunch.” This group of men included his best friend, William Ellsworth “Elzy” Lay, and the famous Sundance Kid, Harry Alonzo Longabaugh. Also in the group was, Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry; Ben Kilpatrick, the Tall Texan; and Harry Tracy.
The Wild Bunch in 1901, with Henry Longabaugh (Sundance Kid) sitting far left and Robert LeRoy Parker (Butch Cassidy) sitting far right. (Credit: The Print Collection/Print Collector/Getty Images)
Some of their most famous robberies include the Montpelier Bank in Montpelier, Idaho where they walked away, literally, with $7,165. The only hold up in Utah, at the Pleasant Valley Coal Company in Castle Gate, in the amount of $8,800. This group of outlaws is still known for the longest sequence of successful train and bank robberies. Some of their train robberies include; Overland Flyer train near Wilcox, Wyoming on June 2, 1899 and made off with $60,000. Next was a Rio Grande train near Folsom, New Mexico on July 11, 1899. This was the grandest prize that they made off with in the amount of $70,000. Next up would be the Union Pacific train at Tipton, Wyoming on August 29, 1900. That robbery was a grand total of $55,000. However, this time they were identified by passengers on the train On September 9, 1900, they stole $32,640 from a bank in Winnemucca, Nevada. The last holdup by the Wild Bunch was a $65,000 robbery of the Northern Pacific Train on July 3, 1901 near Wagner, Montana. After that, the Wild Bunch dispersed.
After everyone went their ways, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid headed to England and then to South America where they set up some ranches and continued their robberies. It is after this that the story becomes sketchy. However, because of Butch Cassidy’s large family, his youngest sister; Lula Betenson was still alive up until the 1980’s and wrote a book about him called, “Butch Cassidy, My Brother.” She said that he didn’t die in Boliva. It is said he moved to Washington State under the name William Phillips. To this day, no one knows where his remains are and what happened really happened to Butch Cassidy.
You can still visit his home in Circleville, Utah. You can also take some hikes that the Grand Canyon Trust has mapped out of the hideouts of the Wild Bunch!
Cassidy wrote:‘The best way to hurt them is through their pocket book. They will Holler louder than if you cut off both legs. I steal their money just to hear them holler. Then I pass it out among those who really need it.’
