Two years ago Friday, Layton firefighters responding to an early morning garage fire found a grim scene. Inside the gutted garage, lying face down, was the body of 18-year-old Bobbi Jo Womack, dead of smoke inhalation.
After two months of intensive investigation, detectives and prosecutors filed first-degree murder and other charges against the couple that was caring for the mentally disabled young woman, charging they intentionally set the fire that killed her to collect on a $100,000 life insurance policy.Two years after Womack's death, neither of the two people charged with killing her has come to trial. In fact, neither John "Rick" Vosburgh, 44, nor his wife, Tonya, 33, has entered a plea to three felony charges in connection with Bobbi Jo's death or even had a preliminary hearing to determine if they should be tried.
But the Vosburghs, free on $100,000 bail, have made numerous court appearances over the past two years, most centering on Tonya's mental condition.
Both Rick and Tonya Vosburgh were charged with first-degree felony counts of murder and aggravated arson in the fire and were also charged with insurance fraud, a second-degree felony, for trying to collect on the life insurance policy they took out on Bobbi Jo.
According to Layton Police investigators, Tonya Vosburgh first met Bobbi Jo when the girl was living in a group home in Kaysville where Tonya worked. Bobbi Jo was mentally and physically handicapped after being struck by a car as a child.
She reportedly had the mental capacity of an 8-year-old and had limited use of her left leg, arm and hand. But just how handicapped Bobbi Jo was is a matter of dispute and may be a key issue if the Vosburghs are ever brought to trial.
Under an agreement with Bobbi Jo's mother, Eileen Womack, the Vosburghs became her guardians, bringing her into their Layton home. They were paid $320 a month for rent and another $50 per day for caring for her, the funds coming out of a $147,000 insurance trust set up for Bobbi Jo after the car accident.
Within days after the garage fire, police detectives made several discoveries that led them to suspect the Vosburghs.
The couple was having severe financial problems; a custody battle was looming between them and the victim's mother; the insurance agent who sold the Vosburghs the $100,000 policy said he didn't know Bobbi Jo was handicapped and would not have sold a policy knowing that; Bobbi Jo's signature on the insurance application appeared to be a forgery; and lab tests showed the fatal garage fire was set in two places, using an accelerant.
The Vosburghs, in one of the few statements they made after the incident, speculated Bobbi Jo accidentally set the garage on fire when she sneaked out around 6 a.m. for a cigarette.
Rick Vosburgh said he heard Bobbi Jo screaming inside the garage and tried unsuccessfully to rescue her.
On the advice of their defense attoreys, neither has discussed the case since.
Bobbi Jo's family said the girl was so physically handicapped that she couldn't have lit a cigarette by herself, much less unscrewed the cap off a gas can and splashed the liquid around. Besides, they said, she had no reason to do that.
But administrators at the Pioneer Adult Rehabilitation Center in Clearfield, a sheltered workshop where Bobbi Jo worked, said she had enough dexterity to put labels on video tapes and attach promotional stickers to potato chip bags.
A month after the felony charges were filed against the Vosburghs, the case took a turn that has stalled it in court for the past 18 months.
Tonya Vosburgh reportedly slipped on some apricots on the sidewalk of the apartment complex where they were living in West Bountiful, falling and hitting her head.
Medical and court records show she was treated for headaches at Lakeview Hospital on three consecutive days and reported slipping and falling in her bathtub, again hitting her head.
On Aug. 6, 1993, Tonya was operated on for a brain aneurysm discovered during her treatment. Physicians at that time reported they were unsure whether the problem was related to her falls.
The surgery was followed by a series of strokes or swelling of Tonya's brain that left her with paralysis on her right side, speech problems and some apparent mental disability, according to court records.
Tonya was treated first at Holy Cross Hospital and then transferred to the psychiatric ward of LDS Hospital in mid-September 1993, according to court records.
Saying she was incapacitated mentally and unable to aid in her own defense, Tonya's defense attorney at that time, Randy Gaither, asked that proceedings against her be delayed and she be examined to determine her mental condition.
Second District Judge Jon Memmott agreed.
The case became more complex when Tonya's parents filed a motion claiming their daughter was incompetent and they should be appointed as her guardians to look after her legal interests.
Leaving that to her husband would be a conflict of interest because he, too, was charged in the murder, the parents argued. Second District Judge Brent West agreed, appointing Tonya's mother, Gerry Watson, as her guardian.
That, too, has complicated the case because Watson lives in Hot Springs, Ark., and all court documents, appearance notices and other paperwork have to be served on her there, attorneys must consult with her by telephone or letter, and she must make arrangements to come to Utah to represent her daughter at court appearances.
There has been a series of defense attorneys. Gaither withdrew from the case; the court briefly appointed public defender Glen Cella to represent Tonya; and on Jan. 9, attorney Earl Spafford filed a notice that he has been retained to defend her. Brad Rich still represents Rick Vosburgh.
And Tonya Vosburgh's condition is still in dispute.
A court-ordered evaluation by psychologist Nancy B. Cohn found that while Tonya may have some residual effects from the fall or surgery, she suspects some malingering and fakery.
"The defendant is malingering an organic mental disorder," Cohn concluded. "The true nature and extent of her deficits is unknown."
Tonya's lack of understanding of the charges against her "appears quite selective and self-serving," Cohn concluded, adding some of the symptoms Tonya displays, such as speaking in a childlike, sing-song voice, are not consistent with the type of brain injury or stroke she is supposed to suffer from.
Analysis is difficult, the psychologist added, because of Tonya's background of working in a group home with mentally handicapped people.
Noting in her analysis that the Vosburghs have filed a civil suit against the owner of the apartment complex where she slipped and fell, Cohn concluded that Tonya is exaggerating her condition, noting she has much to lose from the criminal case against her and much to gain from her civil suit.
A second mental evaluation has been ordered by Memmott. Prosecutors and her defense attorney are currently negotiating on who will perform the evaluation.
"The case is kind of in limbo right now," Spafford said Thursday. He doesn't believe Tonya Vosburgh is faking her injury.
"Too much time has elapsed to believe that," he said. "Nobody can fake an injury that long without stubbing their toe somewhere along the line and getting caught."
As for prosecutor Carvel Harward, at every delay in the court proceedings he makes it clear that he is ready to begin a trial at any time.
His case is built on scientific evidence, laboratory analysis and expert witness testimony interpreting that evidence, Harward said, none of which is harmed by waiting.
"The evidence is there. It's not like it's based on eyewitness testimony or someone's memory that can fade over time. We're ready to go," Harward said.