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Prosecutors in Wayne County have filed a manslaughter charge against a teen accused in the strangulation death of a relative during an altercation.
The second-degree felony charge, along with a class B misdemeanor count of abuse or desecration of a human body was filed Wednesday in Loa's 6th District Juvenile Court.
The charges stem from an Oct. 2 incident at the home Fremont home of 32-year-old Jerimiah Randall James.
Police have not released the boy's name or age because he is a juvenile and The Salt Lake Tribune does not identify juvenile defendants unless they have been certified to stand trial in adult court.
James was found dead on Oct. 4 by Wayne County Sheriff's Office deputies responding to a 911 call. The sheriff's office has said an altercation among three men — a grandfather, a son and a nephew — occurred at the home on Oct. 2. Randall's exact relationship to the teen is unclear.
Charging documents say the teen "recklessly" caused James' death and then "intentionally and unlawfully failed to report the finding of a dead human body" to police the next day.
An autopsy determined that James died of strangulation.
Deputies arrested the teen and booked him into a maximum security juvenile detention facility in Richfield on Oct. 4.
It was not clear on Wednesday whether prosecutors would attempt to move the case into adult court, and a telephone message left for Wayne County Attorney LeEllen McCartney was not returned.
Court documents do not say whether the teen has an attorney.
The family, which originally resided in the Salt Lake Valley, had lived in Fremont for less than a month.