CEDAR CITY — A piece of paper blowing across a lawn provided the clue that led to the arrest of two teenagers in the slaying of a purported drug dealer, investigators testified.
Following the preliminary hearing Wednesday, Carl Gary Wilcken, 18, was bound over for trial on charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated arson in the Jan. 30 shooting death of Cynthia Kay Boggs. Iron County Attorney Scott Burns has said he may seek the death penalty against Wilcken.
Zachary Russell Beatty, 17, waived his preliminary hearing on murder, arson and robbery charges last month and will be tried separately.
Wilcken and Beatty are accused of robbing and killing Boggs, dumping her body about three miles away and then burning her trailer to the ground.
At the hearing Wednesday before 5th District Judge Robert Braithwaite, Iron County sheriff's detective Mark Gower said a piece of paper found in the victim's front yard had the name and phone number of David Hoovan, 19, an acquaintance of the defendants.
Hoovan testified he had accompanied the two to the Boggs residence in the past to purchase marijuana.
Hoovan said Wilcken later said, "Maybe we should shoot her and steal her weed."
He quoted Beatty as saying the original plan was for him to kill Boggs, but when they reached the residence, he couldn't do it.
Benson said Beatty told him that Wilcken shot the woman and they disposed of the body at Desert Mound.
Benson said Wilcken told him that he sat in the car in the driveway while Beatty entered the residence, shot Boggs and dragged her body out.