This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story included the name of the suspect. It is The Tribune's policy not to name juvenile crime suspects unless they are charged as adults.
Law enforcement on Saturday formally arrested the teenage suspect in a Toquerville homicide.
The 17-year-old boy was booked into the Washington County Jail on suspicion of homicide. Police believe the teen shot and killed Geraldine Bommarito, 58, in her Toquerville home late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Investigators captured the boy Wednesday.
A Washington County Sheriff's Office statement said the county attorney is considering additional charges.
Sheriff's deputies found Bommarito's body while investigating a separate burglary. During the investigation, deputies identified the teen as a possible suspect in the break in, which was reported early Wednesday.
By Wednesday morning, police received a tip that the teen was at a gas station refueling a car in Washington City. He got away from the gas station before police could catch him, but the tipster passed along the car's license plate number. Investigators traced the license plate number to Bommarito, the registered owner of the car.
Deputies then went to Bommarito's home, where they discovered she had been shot at least once. Investigators later found what they believe was her car, though it had been burned and abandoned near Springdale.
Investigators also recovered guns taken from the earlier burglary.
The teen knew Brommarito though they are not related, according to Washington County sheriff's Chief Deputy Shauna Jones.
Neighbors have described Bommarito as a nice woman who ran a home cosmetics business and volunteered at nearby Zion National Park. She moved to Toquerville about five years ago and came from an Italian-American family in Las Vegas.
A search of court records did not reveal any criminal history for the teen, though because he's a minor, any past run-ins with the law would likely be private.
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