A 60-year-old woman was charged Monday with murdering one of her roommates at a Sandy shelter for medically vulnerable people last month.
Laura Northrup is facing one count each of murder, a first-degree felony; and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, according to charging documents filed this week in 3rd District Court.
Evidence suggests Northrup killed Stephanie Lynne Haskett-Carrasco with a 14-ounce can of Ensure nutrition powder, prosecutors say. Investigators found the can — encrusted with blood and human hair — in a bag beneath Northrup’s bed at the shelter, located at 8955 S. Harrison St.
The referral-only shelter, a renovated Econo Lodge hotel, opened in December to give housing, on-site health care and other supportive services to up to 165 people experiencing homelessness who are sick or face other medical challenges.
A state medical examiner said Haskett-Carrasco died from blunt force trauma and noted she had several “crescent shaped” bruises and cuts, consistent with the Ensure can’s metal edge, charging documents state.
Northrup was arrested May 26, the day police learned of Haskett-Carrasco’s death, and has been in the Salt Lake County jail since without the option to post bond, jail records show. Northrup declined to speak to investigators when she was arrested and asked for an attorney, according to a probable cause statement.
What happened?
Northrup and Haskett-Carrasco’s third roommate told police she last saw Haskett-Carrasco alive when the roommate left the room around 3 p.m. on May 25. She returned around noon the next day and found the room messy, “as if there had been a scuffle.”
The roommate took a nap and woke up just before 4 p.m. She blew her nose and walked by Haskett-Carrasco’s bed to throw away the tissue, and said she saw Haskett-Carrasco’s foot peeking out from beneath the bed, from behind blankets and other items that had been piled up.
“Stephanie, why are you under the bed?,” the woman remembered asking, according to charging documents, and then reached down to shake her leg. She found it was cold, and ran out to the front desk to get help.
Sandy police, along with paramedics, responded to the shelter and pronounced Haskett-Carrasco dead.
The third roommate told investigators that Northrup and Haskett-Carrasco “did not get along and they would ‘bicker’ a lot,” according to charging documents.
A neighbor reported he heard arguing coming from Northrup and Haskett-Carrasco’s room at around 1:48 a.m. and told front desk employees that “they aren’t getting along” before going back to his room, court filings state.
Video footage showed that Northrup and Haskett-Carrasco were in the room alone just before 1 a.m, according to the charging documents. At 1:57 a.m., Northrup was seen leaving the room carrying blankets and other items. While she was wearing white shoes earlier, she was now wearing a darker pair of shoes. An investigator noted her “face is red, and she wiped her forehead and looked at her hands.” She returned to the room briefly and left.
No one else entered or left the room until the third roommate came back home around noon.
When police searched the room, they found blood splattered on the air conditioning vent and door frame, as well as a bloody white shoe. Northrup was arrested wearing a shirt that appeared to have blood on the sleeve, prosecutors wrote.
Court records show Northrup has no listed attorney, and as a result The Salt Lake Tribune was unable to reach out to a defense attorney for comment.
When reached Tuesday, Shelter the Homeless Executive Director Laurie Hopkins declined to comment about the shelter’s protocols for keeping residents safe and any changes it has made in the wake of this death, citing the ongoing police investigation. Shelter the Homeless, a nonprofit, oversees the shelter.
She called the death a “tragic incident” and noted “we are working to ensure the staff and residents receive the support that is necessary.”
In a statement, Salt Lake County District Attorney said the shelter “is a place for those in a medically compromised state to find safety and solitude.”
“This violent act has shaken the community,” the statement continued, “and our hearts go out to the loved ones of Ms. Haskett-Carrasco.”