Joshua Jacobson, 22, had called his grandmother and was trying to get the family to spend some time together.
He had been at his grandparents' house the day before he was fatally stabbed in Liberty Park on April 3. His confessed murderer, Darrell Ray Sturmer, was sentenced Friday to six years to life in prison by 3rd District Judge Leslie Lewis.
Joshua's grandmother recalled the agony of learning about his death. "I saw the picture and the sunglasses and I said 'that's Josh,"' Arlene Legg said of seeing his picture in the newspaper the next day.
Sturmer, known as "Dingo" on the street, was seen arguing with Jacobson during the Liberty Park drum circle shortly before Jacobson was fatally stabbed. A week before his trial was to begin, he pleaded guilty to the stabbing.
Lewis said she would write a letter to the Board of Pardons every time Sturmer came up for parole.
She was impressed by Sturmer's letter of remorse that stated, "It's a nightmare I have lived and I cannot change it ... The look of pain gives me nightmares ... I took their little boy from them ... I can't change anything I have done ... I would just like to say I'm sorry."
"This was a cold-blooded, calculated homicide," Lewis said. "You pointed it (the knife) directly at his heart and intended to kill him."
Members of Sturmer's street family stormed out of the courtroom after the sentencing.
"That judge was very maliced," said Adam Hillman, Sturmer's street brother. "I am very disturbed about the sentencing."
The street family contends that Sturmer did not intentionally kill Jacobson.
Jacobson's family members, however, feel that they can now start to heal.
"Our family is very pleased with the sentencing," said Sharon Cook, Jacobson's cousin. "It is a little bittersweet."
Jacobson's family admits that the victim wasn't a poster child, saying he wasn't trouble-free, drug-free or sorrow-free. However, he had a child and one on the way.
"We'll never know if he would have turned his life around for the better, and now he'll never have that chance," said Maria Martinez, Jacobson's maternal grandmother.
Both Jacobson's father and mother were sobbing. Only his mother spoke, barely audible between her sobs, to the judge. His father only spoke after he left the courtroom.
"He (Sturmer) stole one of the most precious things from us," Rod Jacobson, who lives in Vernal, told the Deseret Morning News. "May God have mercy on his soul."
E-mail: blee@desnews.com