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SPANISH FORK - More than a decade after teenager Kiplyn Davis disappeared, her hometown learned the bittersweet news: A former classmate is charged with killing her and authorities hope to find and bring her body home to her grieving parents by spring.
On Thursday, prosecutors accused Timmy Brent Olsen of murder in the presumed 1995 death of the 15-year-
old.
"What a relief," Spanish Fork Mayor Joe Thomas said. "The Kiplyn disappearance has haunted the entire city. What a relief to have those responsible being brought to justice.
"We couldn't be happier for [the Davis family] and, at the same time, our hearts go out to them for their tragic loss."
Olsen, a 28-year-old Spanish Fork mechanic, faces up to life in prison if convicted of the first-degree felony. He has been held in Salt Lake County jail since last fall on federal charges of lying to authorities investigating what happened to Kiplyn.
Over the years, Olsen repeatedly described himself as being up a canyon with Kiplyn the day she disappeared, the federal perjury indictments against him contend. He allegedly told others that she walked away with a male friend, then only the man returned.
But according to accounts by other witnesses, Olsen also boasted of killing her himself, federal prosecutors say, alleging he implicated himself to about two dozen friends and acquaintances.
Olsen and four other men were charged last year with federal perjury counts for allegedly lying to police and a grand jury. All but one is a former classmate of Kiplyn.
Olsen is the first defendant to face state charges in the case.
At a Thursday news conference, Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson said he does not believe Olsen acted alone in connection with Kiplyn's death, but said prosecutors currently have sufficient evidence to charge only him. Future charges are expected, he said.
"There certainly has been a conspiracy of silence," Bryson said.
But the conspiracy is crumbling, he added, and investigators are closer to finding a body. "I think it's only a matter of time," Bryson said. "And perhaps just a matter of waiting for the spring and better weather."
Kiplyn's parents, Richard and Tamara Davis, also are hopeful.
"I think the mountain's coming down," Richard Davis said. "We're getting closer and closer, and every time we have another indictment, every time we have another arrest, every time we have another person plead guilty, [we think] that pretty soon someone's going to finally decide to tell us where she is."
Customers and workers at Duke's Lanes, a coffee shop and bowling alley in Spanish Fork, share that hope.
"People want closure for the family, for them to be able to bury their daughter and get some closure," employee Melissa Manhard said. "They want justice served."
Russel Tiffany said he was surprised how long it has taken to gather evidence. Several residents speculated the five men, who were teenagers in 1995, had help from adults in keeping their secret.
"I don't see how that many kids could be involved and their parents not know anything," real estate broker Wayne Roach of Palmyra said.
Richard Shumway added: "We pride ourselves on having strong family values but in this case, maybe those values were a little too strong, those family ties a little too binding."
Spanish Fork Police Chief Dee Rosenbaum said charging Olsen is a significant step.
He said, "We feel very strongly that there are more people out there in the public that know more information and we want them to contact us and tell us what they've heard, what they know."
Kiplyn, a 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.
In spring 2003, Richard and Tamara Davis asked U.S. Attorney for Utah Paul Warner to help. He agreed to convene a federal grand jury to investigate. Beginning in April, indictments accusing Olsen and the other men of making false statements and perjury were issued one by one.
"I feel great that we're at this point," Warner said Thursday. "I emphasize that today was a step, not a conclusion."
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Tribune correspondent Michael Koberlein contributed to this report.
THE FIVE INDICTED
Five men have been indicted on federal counts of perjury and making false statements to authorities investigating the 1995 disappearance of Kiplyn Davis. Each count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Charged with murder: Timmy Brent Olsen, 28, Spanish Fork
A state charge of murder was filed against Olsen on Thursday. In a 20-count federal perjury indictment, Olsen is accused of lying when he denied admitting several times that he killed Kiplyn or was with her and another man when she disappeared.
Expected to cooperate: Scott Brunson, 28, Spanish Fork
"We anticipate . . . [Brunson and Garry Blackmore] . . . will be assisting in our investigation," Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson said Thursday.
Brunson cut a deal with prosecutors in December, admitting that he had provided a fake alibi for Olsen for the day Kiplyn disappeared. He pleaded guilty to one count of perjury and two counts of making false statement to authorities.
Expected to cooperate: Garry Blackmore, 26, Cardston, Alberta, Canada
On Tuesday, Blackmore, a former Salem resident, pleaded guilty to one count each of perjury and making a false statement. He was accused of lying when he said he had never heard a friend say anything about what happened to Kiplyn. A prosecutor has said Blackmore lied when he said that he and another man never asked a third person for help moving a body two years after the girl disappeared.
Claiming innocence: David Rucker Leifson, 28, Bountiful
Leifson, facing six counts of perjury, is accused of lying when he denied confronting Olsen a year after Kiplyn's disappearance. Leifson allegedly was angry that Olsen was implicating him.
Claiming innocence: Christopher Neal Jeppson, 28, West Jordan
Jeppson allegedly lied when he said Olsen spent hours with him on the day of Kiplyn's disappearance, and when he denied saying or hearing someone else say something about disposing of the girl's body. He is charged with six counts of perjury and three counts of making false statements.
The disappearance of Kiplyn Davis:
* Kiplyn Davis, 15, vanished May 2, 1995, after leaving Spanish Fork High School after lunch.
* In March 2003, U.S. Attorney Paul Warner agreed to convene a grand jury and revive the search for her.
* Five men, most former friends of Kiplyn, have been indicted for perjury since April. They stand accused of lying about what they have said about her disappearance. Finally, her parents have hope that they will find Kiplyn's body and lay her to rest.
* Timmy Brent Olsen, a former classmate of Kiplyn, was charged Thursday with first-degree felony murder in her disappearance.