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PROVO - The Utah County Attorney's Office announced today that it has charged a former classmate of Kiplyn Davis with first-degree felony murder in the Spanish Fork girl's 1995 disappearance, a big step toward solving the mystery of what happened to the teenager.
Timmy Brent Olsen, 28, a Spanish Fork mechanic, is already in jail. He has been incarcerated since his arrest last fall on federal perjury charges stemming from the investigation into Kiplyn's fate.
Olsen is the first defendant to face state charges in the case. He and four other men - David Rucker Leifson, 28, of Bountiful; Christopher Neal Jeppson, 28, West Jordan; Garry Von Blackmore, 26, Cardston, Alberta, Canada; and Scott Brunson, 28, Spanish Fork - were charged last year with federal perjury counts for allegedly lying to police and a grand jury.
All but Blackmore are former classmates of Kiplyn. The Spanish Fork High School sophomore was last seen by her family on May 2, 1995. She left school after lunch and never returned, leaving her purse behind in her locker.
Spanish Fork police at first considered the girl a runaway, despite her family's insistence that she never would have disappeared willingly. The case later became a kidnapping probe, joined by the FBI, but Kiplyn was not found and now is presumed dead.
Rumors began almost immediately that something awful had happened. The community became aware that Olsen and Leifson, both seniors who had been in the drama club with Kiplyn, were being investigated. Jeppson also came under suspicion.
However, there was not enough evidence to bring charges against anyone. Although authorities periodically combed school records for clues, the case appeared cold.
In spring 2003, Richard and Tamara Davis asked U.S. Attorney for Utah Paul Warner to help them find out what happened to Kiplyn. The probe was intensified and a federal grand jury convened to investigate.
Numerous witnesses, including the defendants themselves and their acquaintances, were called to testify. Beginning in April, indictments accusing the five men of making false statements and perjury were issued one by one.
In December, Brunson became the first defendant to strike a deal with prosecutors, admitting that he had provided a fake alibi for Olsen by saying the two were shingling a shed all day on the day Kiplyn disappeared.
Brunson entered guilty pleas in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City to one count of perjury and two counts of making false statement to authorities. As part of his plea deal, he agreed to testify against Olsen and other defendants. Prosecutor Carlos Esqueda said Brunson will serve time, but could shorten the 15-year maximum term he faces by cooperating.
On Tuesday, Blackmore also entered guilty pleas to one count each of perjury and making a false statement, but the proceeding was held in secret and the records on his plea bargain sealed.
The indictment against him alleges that Blackmore made a false statement Feb. 10 when he denied to FBI Special Agent Mike Anderson that someone, identified in court papers only as U.P., for Unnamed Person, had ever said anything about Kiplyn in his presence. The perjury count stems from his testimony March 31 to the grand jury that he never told U.P. No. 3 that U.P. had told him that he had killed Kiplyn.
At a court hearing last year, Esqueda, an assistant U.S. attorney, said that two years after Kiplyn disappeared, Blackmore and another man asked a friend for help moving a body.
Olsen, Leifson and Jeppson are slated to be tried separately later this year. The federal cases will be completed first before any state cases proceed.