The woman accused of murdering the financee of her former boyfriend and then burning her body made a brief court appearance this morning.
Wearing a yellow jumpsuit, Sally Ann Krivanek appeared via television from the Salt Lake County Jail, listening as 3rd District Judge Dennis Fuchs read the charges against her.
Krivanek was charged Wednesday with one count of homicide and one count of desecration of a dead body. In a separate incident, she was also charged Wednesday with five counts of prescription forgery to obtain painkillers.
She is being held at the jail on a total of $1,050,000 bail for both charges.
The 28-year-old mother of two gave a barely audible "yes, sir" when asked to verify that she was Krivanek. She stood motionless for most of the hearing, with her head tilted to the side, as she listened to the judge.
The only sign of emotion was when she slightly shook her head as Fuchs read the charge alleging she desecrated the body of Kellie Nelson, 23.
The defense asked for a mental evaluation for Krivanek. Judge Fuchs agreed. But he also said the evaluation would have to happen in jail, saying he would likely deny any pre-trial release for an evaluation.
Krivanek is accused of murdering Nelson, the fiancee of Krivanek's ex-boyfriend, and burning her body off I-80 near 9000 West Dec. 1. Although a cause of death has not been revealed, the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office said Nelson, 23, was dead before her body was doused with gasoline and set on fire.
After the slaying, investigators received information about the incident anonymously. They believe it came from Krivanek and that she knew more about the murder than had been released publicly. Detectives tracked her down after tracing the phone calls to a convenience store and talking to the store clerk.
Krivanek was arrested Dec. 4 after being questioned by investigators who say they recognized her voice as the caller's. Charges were filed after DNA on a cigarette butt found in front of Nelson's townhouse in Taylorsville was positively matched with Krivanek.
Nelson's fiance, Kevin Wolters, was interviewed again by prosecutors Thursday and given a polygraph test. Prosecutors said they cannot reveal the results of those tests because of confidentiality laws.
Prosecutors have yet to reveal what they believe is a motive for the slaying.
There are also questions about what happened from 5 a.m. Dec. 1, when Nelson left for work, to the time when her body was discovered nearly 14 hours later. They also don't know if others were involved in the homicide.
Krivanek's next scheduled court appearance is Dec. 23.
E-MAIL: preavy@desnews.com