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A Richfield man pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing and dismembering his wife and was immediately sentenced to prison.
Edward Donald Callison, 59, was charged in Richfield's 6th District Court with first-degree felony murder, second-degree felony obstruction of justice and third-degree felony abuse or desecration of a human body in connection with the September slaying of his wife, 46-year-old Melanie Layton Callison.
Judge Marvin Bagley — calling Edward Callison "a very, very evil man" — said he would recommend to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole that he ever be released.
As part of a plea bargain, the other two counts against the defendant were dismissed.
A probable cause statement unsealed by the court on Tuesday describes in grisly detail how on Sept. 11, Edward Callison killed and dismembered his wife — whom he had wanted dead "for awhile."
Edward Callison took his wife of about six months to a mountain campsite where he gave her a massive dose of pain killers and sedatives — Percocet and Clonazepam — which she washed down with orange juice and vodka, according to the probable cause statement.
The drugs caused the woman's death, after which Edward Callison used an ax and a knife to dismember her body and drag it to shallow grave, according to the probable cause statement.
At the grave site, he further dismembered her into small pieces, and then began to burn the pieces until it was all burned except for her torso, according to the probable cause statement. He buried the woman's torso, and buried the ashes in a different spot.
Edward Callison told detectives that he wanted his wife dead "because he wanted some peace in his life and he was tired of living with a drug addict."
"He told us that she would 'grind' on him an 'grind' on him ... until he couldn't take it and he would give her the pills she wanted," according to the probable cause statement .
"He said ... he thought that if he just let her overdose it would be over and he wouldn't have to deal with it anymore," according to the probable cause statement.
According to the probable cause statement, Melanie Callison was last been seen on Sept. 11 by her doctor.
On Sept. 25, the same day the woman's family reported her missing, her husband picked up a refill of his wife's Clonazepam prescription using her driver license.
On Oct. 2, Edward Callison made his own missing person's report, claiming his wife had moved to California, according to police.
Edward Callison stuck to that story until Oct. 27, when he admitted making it up, but without revealing anything else of her whereabouts.
Meanwhile, police had been to the campsite — a spot near mile marker 18 on State Road 24, where the woman's family said the couple liked to camp — and found bone fragments in a fire pit.
On Nov. 12, a forensic anthropologist identified the bone fragments as human.
On Nov. 13, officers arrested Edward Callison and he agreed to take police to the campsite and explain what happened, according to the probable cause statement.
Edward Callison filed for divorce on Nov. 10.
Callison's previous criminal history includes January 2013 convictions of felony identity fraud and unlawful possession of a financial card, as well as misdemeanor unlawful use of the card. He served 10 days in jail for the crimes and was released on a two-year supervised probation period, beginning in February 2013.
Callison was being held at the Sevier County Jail in lieu of $1 million cash-only bail.