The Latest: Police say man bound, stabbed missing teens
The Latest on a man arrested after two teenagers’ bodies were found in abandoned Utah mine.
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12:20 p.m.
Police say a Utah man tied up two teenagers, stabbed them to death and dumped their bodies in an abandoned Utah mine shaft.
Jail documents released Thursday say 41-year-old Jerrod W. Baum found the two teenagers after they visited his live-in girlfriend at the couple’s home and tied them up in the back of their own Jeep.
Utah County Sheriff’s officials say Baum drove 18-year-old Riley Powell and 17-year-old Brelynne “Breezy” Otteson out to a nearby abandoned mine site near Eureka, about 75 miles south of Salt Lake City, where he stabbed them and dumped their bodies down a mine shaft.
Their bodies were found Wednesday, nearly three months after they were reported to have disappeared on their way home.
Baum is being held on suspicion of aggravated murder and other charges. His attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
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10:30 a.m.
At least one person is under arrest in the deaths of a missing teenage couple whose bodies were found in an abandoned Utah mine.
Utah County Sheriff’s officials said Thursday that 41-year-old Jerrod W. Baum is being held on suspicion of aggravated murder, kidnapping, abuse of a dead body and other charges.
Undersheriff Darin Durfey tells KSL Newsradio that additional arrests have been made, though he didn’t immediately give details.
No attorney or working phone number was immediately available for Baum.
The arrest comes months after 18-year-old Riley Powell and 17-year-old Breezy Otteson reportedly disappeared on their way home to Eureka, about 75 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Powell’s Jeep was found in mid-January, apparently dumped at a reservoir near Eureka under what police called suspicious circumstances.
