WASHINGTON TERRACE -- The city's first homicide in 10 years was eerily reminiscent to police and longtime residents.
Tuesday's slaying and the last one a decade ago, both occurred in the same apartment complex and involved a female victim.Police officers kicked in the door of Shara Dawn Lindeman's apartment Tuesday after failing to raise an answer. They found her inside, stabbed repeatedly. They also found a knife.
Washington Terrace Police Chief Merv Taylor said Lindeman was the victim of domestic violence, attacked by her estranged husband she was due to divorce next week.
She had moved into the unit at the Lake Park Apartments, 4930 S. 350 East, on Sept. 1. Taylor said there had been no history of domestic violence calls to the unit and the husband, Bret Carl Lindeman, 24, has no criminal record.
Members of the Weber-Morgan Homicide Task Force are continuing to build their investigation, which Taylor conceded hinged on a bizarre and tragic case.
Bret Lindeman remains hospitalized at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden in serious condition after crashing his car at speeds of nearly 100 mph into the David Eccles Conference Center at 24th Street and Washington Boulevard.
Taylor said Lindeman attacked his wife about 3 a.m., drove to his apartment, told his roommates he'd done a terrible thing and then left. An hour later, he was speeding along Washington Boulevard, crashing into objects along the west side of the street before careening into the conference center, the chief said. The impact threw him from the vehicle into the middle of Washington Boulevard and caused the car to burst into flames.
Ogden Police Lt. Marcy Korgenski said the crash was horrific; it took cleanup crews more than hour to clear away the debris. The conference center was not severely damaged.
Lindeman, suffering from multiple broken bones and severe internal injuries, was admitted to the hospital in critical condition but was upgraded to serious condition Wednesday.
Washington Terrace, a small bedroom community just south of Ogden, typically has very few violent crimes. Last year, for example, it reported one rape and just five aggravated assaults.
Tuesday's slaying of the young woman is only the second time in 27 years the city has had a homicide. In 1989, 11-year-old Charla Nicole King was found strangled in her mother's bedroom at the Lake Park Apartment complex. They, too, were recent tenants of the building, having moved there from Brigham City. John Albert Taylor was arrested within a few days of the homicide. He was executed by firing squad in 1996 for her death.
Taylor said the community sentiment is one of shock.
"The mood is one of disbelief that it happened here," Taylor said.