Teenage Utah Couple Missing Since December Found

Details

Category: Crime

Published on Friday, 06 April 2018 22:53

Written by Janet Walker

The bodies of a young couple who had been missing since December were discovered at the bottom of an abandoned Eureka mine shaft, hands and feet bound, brutally beaten and butchered ending the three month mystery into their disappearance.

Brelynne "Breezy" Otteson, 17, and Riley Powell, 18, were last seen December 30, 2017 after spending the day celebrating a delayed Christmas with relatives. The pair, who had been dating for some time, were looking forward to a future together.

"It's as bad as anything I've ever seen," said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon. "They just seem like decent kids ... they never did anything to deserve this," the AP reports.

The couple was living with Powell's father in Eureka, a former silver mining town with a wind-swept main street surrounded by sandy-colored hills pockmarked with hundreds of abandoned mine shafts about 75 miles south of Salt Lake City.

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The pair were reported by both sets of families after vanishing into thin air after December 30, 2017. It wasn't until police made a routine traffic stop and after searching the car of Morgan Henderson, 34, a former paramour of Powell, they found enough evidence to secure warrants for additional searches.

After her arrest Henderson broke and told police the about the murders.

Powell and Otteson arrived at her home December 30, 2017. The three were smoking pot and enjoying the holiday season. Her live-in companion, Jarrod Baum, 41, who warned her against having men in the house when he wasn't home, returned to find the three high. He, according the Henderson, flew into a rage. Instead of simply telling them to leave he led the couple outside, covering their mouths with duct tape, and drove them away. He ordered Henderson to ride along to an abandoned mine shaft nearly 2000 feet deep.

Henderson explained Baum had Otteson kneel and watch while he brutally attacked Powell, mercilessly beating him and stabbing him to death. He then tossed his body into the mine shaft. She was next, police records indicate he cut her throat and tossed her in after him.

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Sheriff deputies arrived at the mine, known as Tintic Standard Mine No. 2, and didn't have the equipment to reach the bottom so the search of the pit was never completed.

Baum, who was arraigned, and charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping and other charges was in court this week. If convicted he could face the death penalty.