This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Murder charges have been filed against three people in connection with the death of southern Utah resident David Heisler, whose body was discovered last year in the northern Arizona desert.
Prosecutors in Mohave County, Ariz., filed the first-degree felony murder charges Friday against Francis McCard, 56, Kelley Perry, 32, and Tammy Freeman, 54. Prosecutors also charged the three with kidnapping, though the details of that charge were not immediately available in court records.
The Washington County trio already faced Utah charges related to Heisler's June disappearance — including first-degree felony counts of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary, as well as second-degree felony car theft.
A Bureau of Land Management geologist stumbled upon Heisler's body in August in the Mount Trumbull Wilderness area. Heisler was from Santa Clara.
The three defendants are suspected of transporting Heisler from Utah to the remote Arizona desert, where they left him alive or killed him, according to court documents. Medical examiners said they were unable to determine a cause of death.
The incident appears to be related to an alleged child custody dispute, documents said.
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