Former Moab volunteer teacher and softball coach Arielle Beck on Thursday said the word, "Guilty," ending a seven-year saga in which she was convicted by a jury of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl, spent nearly four years behind bars and saw the conviction overturned by the Utah Supreme Court.

Rather than go to trial a second time, Beck, 30, pleaded to one count of second-degree felony forcible sodomy and was sentenced to probation.

The family of victim Kelly Sowell endured a parallel ordeal as the case wound through the courts, but theirs was punctuated by four deaths.

Plagued by harassment and death threats from the community, Kelly Sowell committed suicide in November 2005, two years after Beck's trial, by hanging herself in her bedroom closet with a dog leash.

Kelly's death sparked a chain-reaction of depression in which two older brothers, Kevin and Cleve, took their own lives, said the victim's mother, Sherilyn Sowell on Friday.

And in an unrelated tragedy, Sherilyn Sowell's husband, Mike Sowell, died earlier this year in a car crash that also injured Sherilyn Sowell and their 13-year-old daughter, Brooke.

"If [Beck] had not done the crime in the first place, we believe Kelly would still be here, and so would Kevin and so would Cleve," Sherilyn Sowell told The Tribune. "I don't think justice was truly served on Arielle."

Sowell OK'd the plea deal, but said she was disappointed that Beck was allowed to enter a so-called Alford plea, whereby she did not admit guilt but took the plea deal only to avoid possible convictions on more serious charges.

Sowell believes the law should be changed to prevent Alford pleas in cases involving child victims.

"She was a teacher, a person in a position of trust, someone the state trusted, someone we all trusted," Sowell said. "After what she put us through, she got off easy, very easy."

In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed three second-degree felony counts of forcible sexual abuse and misdemeanor counts of child abuse, unlawfully supplying alcohol to a minor and allowing an unlicensed person to drive.

Third District Judge Michele Christiansen placed Beck on probation for five years and ordered her to pay $7,827.03 in restitution to the state Victim's Reparation Fund.

Beck also must complete sex-offender counseling and contact the state Sex Offender Registry, where her name will appear for 10 years.

Had the plea deal not been completed, Beck was scheduled for trial next week.

During Beck's 2003 trial, Kelly Sowell testified the teacher kissed and sexually touched her on several occasions in 2002, including at school football games.

Prosecutors presented written and e-mail correspondence as proof of Beck's alleged romantic intentions. Beck denied any sexual relationship, claimed she never sent romantic letters and characterized the girl as a needy teen she tried to befriend.

Sowell said the court case divided Moab into factions. The pro-Beck faction could not believe anything bad of the all-around athlete who was chosen to carry the Olympic torch through town in 2002.

After Beck was convicted, Kelly Sowell was harassed by classmates, who accused the girl of lying, her mother said. The girl also had her car keyed and received death threats over the phone. She received two Internet threats on the day she committed suicide, her mother said.

Sowell said her daughter was initially excited about having Beck for a coach. "She thought Arielle would be the one to make her the best softball player ever."

But months later, Kelly Sowell -- unable to stop Beck's sexual advances -- left a love letter from Beck where her mother could find it, Sherilyn Sowell said.

"We were nothing but an all-American family that sent their kid to play softball," she said. "And that kid met someone she thought was the coach of her dreams."

shunt@sltrib.com