DNA evidence left on a discarded cigarette butt was apparently the smoking gun prosecutors needed to file a murder charge against a woman accused of killing another woman and burning her body.
Sally Ann Krivanek, 28, was charged with one count of criminal homicide, a first-degree felony, and one count of desecration of a dead human body, a third-degree felony, Wednesday in 3rd District Court.
Krivanek is accused of slaying Kellie Nelson and then lighting her body on fire off the side of I-80 near 9000 West. Krivanek has been in jail since being arrested for investigation of homicide Dec. 4.
Test results from the Utah State Crime Lab returned late Wednesday afternoon provided the final piece of evidence prosecutors needed to formally file charges. The DNA from saliva on a cigarette butt found about one block from Nelson's house was matched to Krivanek's DNA, according to court documents.
A man told investigators he saw a woman wearing a dark "garment" with a hood pulled over her head in Nelson's neighborhood about 5:10 a.m. on Dec. 1. The woman was pacing back and forth while smoking a cigarette, court documents state.
Nelson, 23, left her town house to go to work about 5:20 a.m. that day. She never arrived at work, and her burning body was found about 7:30 p.m. Utah State Medical Examiner Todd Gray said she was dead prior to being set on fire, court documents state.
Krivanek's home was later searched and a black garment with a hood was found. The same brand of cigarettes found near Nelson's house were also discovered.