OGDEN — Cortney Naisbitt, one of only two victims to survive the 1974 Ogden Hi-Fi Shop robbery in which three people — including his mother — were killed, has died at 44.
Naisbitt, who was plagued throughout his life by disabilities that stemmed from being tortured, shot in the head and left for dead, died June 4 in Seattle after a long, undisclosed illness.
His father, Byron Naisbitt of Ogden, declined comment except to say, "This is the end of the Hi-Fi story. I want this to be the end of it."
On April 22, 1974, the 16-year-old high school student stopped at a downtown photo shop to pick up some pictures and to get back to the parking lot, he took a shortcut through the neighboring Hi-Fi Shop.
In the shop, he was confronted by Pierre Dale Selby and William Andrews, airmen from Hill Air Force Base, who were robbing the store.
Selby and Andrews took Naisbitt, Stanley Walker, 20, and Michelle Ansley hostage.
Later, when Naisbitt's mother, Carol Naisbitt, and Walker's father, Orren Walker, came to look for their sons, they too were held at gunpoint in the store basement.
The robbers forced the five to drink caustic Drano drain opener. Selby raped 18-year-old Ansley and later shot each hostage in the head. When Orren Walker showed signs of life, Selby, who had run out of bullets, kicked a ball-point pen into his ear.
Orren Walker and Cortney Naisbitt survived. Naisbitt was badly brain damaged and never remembered the events of that day. Walker was the key witness in the trial.
Selby was executed by lethal injection in 1987. Andrews was executed in 1992. A third man, who was waiting outside in the getaway car, served a prison term for robbery.