The return of a Montana prison inmate may clear up the murder and rape of a teenage Utah girl that has gone unsolved since 1972.
Bobby Sales was brought to Utah on Tuesday to begin serving a life prison term for the rape and murder of a Box Elder County girl in 1971. Officials from the Weber County Sheriff's Office picked up Sales in Montana, where he was paroled after serving 21 years on a similar offense, and flew him to Ogden.Sales was convicted in 2nd District Court in Ogden in the 1971 rape and murder of Joann Poulsen, 19. Her body was found in 1973, two years after she disappeared, stuffed in the trunk of her car, under water in Pineview Reservoir.
Investigators for the Davis County Sheriff's Office say Sales is a suspect in the death of Roylene Alexander, 17, Ogden, whose body was found in 1972 in the Weber River bottoms in South Weber.
Both victims had been raped and strangled, according to Capt. Archie Smith of the Weber Sheriff's Office.
Davis investigators confirmed Wednesday they are reviewing the file on the Alexander homicide. One detective said it isn't clear from the evidence in the file if the crime was committed in Davis County or if the victim's body was dumped there.
Smith said Sales has indicated to Weber investigators that he may have information about the Alexander case and may cooperate on it.
"Sales was a suspect in a number of other cases in Utah, although there are no other charges pending against him now," said Smith. "In fact, he was tried in some rape cases here in Weber County back then but was found (not guilty)," he said.
Sales was targeted as a suspect in the Poulsen case when he provided information about where her body was and tried to claim a reward, Smith said.
The similarities between the Poulsen and Alexander cases made him a suspect in that one, too, he said, and new evidence testing methods may be a key in the investigation.
"The Alexander girl was found with a big clump of hair in her hand. At that time, all they could say was that the hair appeared to be similar to that of Sales. Now, if they can get DNA samples, they may be able to link them," said Smith.
Smith said Sales may be willing to cooperate in the investigation. Det. Sam Vanderheide from the Weber office sat with him on the 1 1/2-hour plane ride from Montana and established a rapport, Smith said.
"Sales indicated he'd be willing to discuss the case with him," said Smith.
Smith said he first met Sales 21 years ago when he first joined the sheriff's department and Sales was being held in the Weber jail, waiting to be sentenced and then taken back to Montana.
"He recognized me when we went to pick him up," Smith said. "Sales was very polite. He wasn't as scary as I remembered him from 21 years ago.
"He's afraid of flying. He didn't want to get on the plane, but we explained it was only a short flight," Smith said.
Sales has apparently put his two decades in a Montana prison to good use, according to Smith. "He's a certified law clerk now. He's an accomplished jailhouse lawyer."