Grand County Attorney Lyle Anderson might have preferred a less intense introduction to criminal homicide.
What he got was a suspected serial killer and the possibility of having his first murder case heard by a special grand jury, a rarity even in Utah's largest counties.While he appears undaunted by the circumstances, Anderson said Wednesday he'll ask for help once charges are filed in the next few weeks against Phillip Carl Jablonski.
The 45-year-old parolee from Indio, Calif., is suspected in four murders in Utah and California. Earlier this month, a grand jury in San Mateo County, Calif., indicted him on two capital homicide charges. Grand County and Riverside County, Calif., are poised to follow suit.
"If there were any concern that he would escape justice if we didn't file, I would be prepared to do it right now," Anderson said. "But he's in prison in California and will probably stay there whether I file charges or not."
Jablonski was arrested in Kansas on a parole violation April 28, a day after Marjorie Rogers, 59, was found shot to death at the Thompson Springs convenience store she owned with her husband.
The California murders - two in Burlingame and one near Indio - occurred earlier that week. The victims there, all women, were sexually mutilated, authorities said.
Grand County law officers have said Rogers' assailant appeared to be about to desecrate her body when he was interrupted. "I'd prefer not to give any detail," Anderson said, "but it was nothing on the same scale as what happened in California."
Anderson said he expects to request assistance from the attorney general's office or other county attorneys. And he may ask a district judge to approve the empaneling of a grand jury to hear the case instead of a circuit court.
"The possibility of doing that really just occurred to me. There's a question of delay and also a question of pretrial publicity," he said.
The last time a county grand jury convened anywhere in Utah was when a special panel was seated in Salt Lake County in 1988 to hear the defamation and sexual abuse case against then-county attorney Ted Cannon.
San Mateo County used a grand jury against Jablonski to avoid a preliminary hearing and "tactics used by defense attorneys to stall the situation," said Burlingame Police Commander Gary Missel.
After Jablonski was returned to California, Burlingame officials also considered letting Grand County take the case first, believing Utah would be more likely than California to carry out the death penalty.
"Our in-house thoughts were that California hasn't executed anybody since 1967," Missel said. "In my opinion, Utah has the best probability. You have executed people; we have not.
"Regardless of that, we have him back, we're going to try him first, and the district attorney here feels we have a good case," he said.
All three jurisdictions are pleased with evidence obtained from the suspect and his car, including a .22-caliber gun believed to be the weapon that killed Rogers and clothing now being tested for her blood type.
The Burlingame victims were Carol Spadoni, Jablonski's estranged wife, and her mother, Eva Petersen. The Riverside County victim was Fathyma Vann of Rancho Mirage.
The killings occurred seven months after Jablonski was paroled from prison.
He had served time off and on in the California system since 1973 for rape, burglary, assault and murder, including the slaying of his common-law wife in 1978 and the attempted strangulation of his mother in a prison visiting room in 1985, said Mike Van Winkle of the California Department of Corrections.