COALVILLE — For nine months Paul Wayment lived with the torture of knowing that he was responsible for the death of his only child. "The pain is incomprehensible," Wayment said in court Tuesday.
Shortly before being sentenced to 30 days in jail for negligent homicide in connection with the death of his 2-year-old son, Gage, Paul Wayment showed little emotion as he addressed the court. "If I could change places with my son, I would give up my life in a second," he said.
Despite those comments, Wayment assured his family he was OK. He told them after the sentencing that he wanted to take a drive alone in the mountains. He said he'd be home before dark, Summit County sheriff's detective Rob Berry said.
What nobody knew was that Wayment had a hunting rifle in the back of his truck. On Wednesday, Wayment was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head near the spot that his son froze to death last fall.
"If I would have known he had a gun, I would have asked deputies to take it from him. None of us had any idea," Wayment's lead attorney, Glen Cook, said.
Wayment's brother questioned Paul about what he was going to do, Berry said. He even asked him if he was thinking about suicide.
"This is one of the questions he had asked Paul. (Paul) had promised he wouldn't do anything foolish," Berry said. "He told them not to worry."
Wayment's suicide seemed to take everyone who knew him off guard. When asked if he was shocked when he heard the news, Cook said, "I'm embarrassed to say I was.
"I had absolutely no idea. At the beginning of the case I had some concerns, but based on our discussions on Tuesday, I had no inkling that he had contemplated this, let alone planned it out."
Cook said he is accustomed to working with people who may harm themselves. No one had any idea this was coming, he said.
Likewise, Summit County Attorney Robert Adkins called the suicide "a total shock to us."
"I don't think anyone saw anything to give them reason to believe that he wouldn't show up (to jail)," Adkins said.
The only time during the nine-month ordeal that concerns about suicide were considered was the first night Gage disappeared.
Sheriff's deputies assisting in the search for Gage were afraid to leave Paul Wayment alone that first night, Cook said. Wayment was crying uncontrollably and throwing up throughout the evening, he said.
At one point Wayment told a deputy he should be shot.
Wayment, 38, was sentenced to jail Tuesday by 3rd District Judge Robert Hilder. Despite recommendations by both the prosecution and defense not to send him to jail, Hilder gave him the one-month sentence, saying "some acts call out for a response."
Cook said if Judge Hilder feared in anyway that Wayment was contemplating suicide, he would have taken him into custody immediately after sentencing rather than allowing him to turn himself in the next day.
Hilder released a written statement late Wednesday afternoon saying, "It's a judge's worst nightmare that his or her actions may lead to unforeseen and tragic human consequences."
He said if the jail sentence imposed on Wayment was a factor in his suicide, he deeply regrets it. "But I cannot change my decision. Even in retrospect, I had no information on the day of his sentencing that would have caused me to make a different decision," Hilder said.
Wayment said he would be at the Summit County Jail Wednesday at 10 a.m. to begin serving his sentence.
After he left court Tuesday, Wayment drove back to the Chalk Creek region in the mountains above Coalville where his son disappeared Oct. 26, 2000. Gage had been left alone in his dad's truck for nearly 45 minutes while Wayment scouted for deer.
Wayment left his son in his vehicle to sleep. While he was gone, Gage managed to open the door of the truck and walk away. He was dressed only in pajamas with no shoes.
Five days later on Halloween, Gage's body was located by a volunteer assisting in the search. Gage was found in the snow curled up in a fetal position, having died of hypothermia.
Tuesday, Wayment parked his pickup truck near the pond where the search for Gage began. He walked around the pond and then walked up a ridge that overlooked the entire search area, Berry said.
Sheriff's investigators did not know Wednesday when Wayment pulled the trigger. His body was discovered at 12:45 p.m. by a medical helicopter assisting in the search.
Wayment's brother and sister drove to the suicide scene Wednesday.
Berry said it appeared as though Wayment had his suicide planned for some time.
"It's very unfortunate it had to end this way," Berry said. "I'm not so sure the court's decision had anything to do with this."
Even if Wayment had been taken into custody immediately after being sentenced, Berry said he didn't know if that would have prevented Wayment's suicide. It may have only delayed it, he said.
Bill Stokes, commander for the Summit County search and rescue team, said it took him four months to get over Gage's death. Wednesday, he received the page that his services were again needed to find Paul Wayment.
"I hated to see it end this way," Stokes said. "It's ended now and over with. My heart goes out to the family."
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