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Tooele • A Utah man accused of murdering a 69-year-old woman in her home five years ago has been ordered to stand trial.
Rogelio Diaz Jr., a 23-year-old from West Valley City, is charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony murder in Evelynne Derricott's death. He also is charged with first-degree felony aggravated burglary and second-degree felony theft.
Police linked Diaz to the crime using "familial DNA," a newer method of connecting crime scene DNA profiles with those from family members already in the state's DNA database.
On Friday, following a preliminary hearing, the case was bound over for trial by Judge Robert Adkins.
Police believe that in October 2011, Diaz was burglarizing the home of Derricott — a widow who lived alone — when he beat the woman on the head with a hammer, left her to die, took her car from her garage and drove away.
On Oct. 7, 2011, Derricott's friend went to the home, at 410 W. Havasu Street, to check on her and discovered the woman was dead.
The friend called police, who found Derricott's body at the foot of some stairs, testified Tooele City police Detective Chris Thompson on Friday. At the top of the stairs, police found a hammer that appeared to be blood-stained, just a few feet from a closed toolbox.
A medical examiner confirmed that Derricott died from blunt force trauma to her head and that her wounds were consistent with that of a hammer, attorneys told the court Friday.
Derricott's car was gone, Thompson said, and over the next few days, family members reported that Derricott's cell phone, wallet and purse also were missing.
Through Derricott's cell phone provider, police were able to "ping" the approximate location of the phone and trace it to an area in Kearns. While canvassing the area, officers discovered Derricott's car parked on a side street near the Utah Olympic Oval.
Police found Derricott's cell phone — which still had battery life in it — the following day in some bushes about a tenth of a mile from where they found the car, Thompson said. Police have never located Derricott's car keys.
Police took fingerprints from Derricott's home and garage, and a partial shoe print from the ladder in her garage, but never found any matches.
Several items — including the hammer, door panels from inside the car, the steering wheel, a gear shift from the car and a cell phone — were submitted to the state crime lab for DNA testing, witnesses said.
According to a forensic scientist for Utah state crime lab, a man's DNA was found on the hammer and the steering wheel of Derricott's car — which eventually was linked to Diaz.
Originally, Diaz was merely identified as a person of interest in the case. He has a sister who lives in Tooele, who is acquainted with one of Derricott's neighbors, Thompson said. Diaz has also used a mailing address in Kearns, about a quarter-mile from where the car and cell phone were found.
The case marks the first time in Utah that investigators have used the familial DNA method to zero in on and arrest a suspect. Thompson said he submitted a request to use the new technology in late 2014, after a conversation with technicians who had worked on Derricott's case. Tooele hadn't requested the test originally, partially because it was so new.
But through the testing, technicians linked the DNA found on the hammer and steering wheel to a closely-related male member of Diaz's family.
Police have not said which relative that was, but by the process of elimination, they identified Diaz as the main suspect.
Police investigators say they solidly linked Diaz to the slaying by collecting a sample of his DNA on April 22, when they saw him consume a Rockstar Energy drink at a construction site and leave the can on the side of the road. He also left a pair of work gloves behind, which police took for testing.
When arrested in May, Thompson said Diaz recognized a photo of Derricott, saying she looked like the neighbor of his sister's acquaintance in Tooele, but he could not name her. Diaz denied ever entering Derricott's house, being inside her car or any other involvement in the crime, Thompson said.
Diaz faces up to life in prison, if convicted of the murder charge. A scheduling hearing is set for Nov. 15.