PROVO — New court documents reveal allegations that the man charged with killing a missing Utah County girl admitted multiple times to friends that he raped, killed and buried the 15-year-old in Spanish Fork Canyon almost 11 years ago.
An affidavit in support of an arrest warrant for Timmy Brent Olsen, 28, and a subsequent arrest warrant were filed Thursday in 4th District Court, where he faces a first-degree felony murder charge in the death of Kiplyn Davis. The filing of the papers is a formality because Olsen remains in federal custody awaiting trial on perjury.
The warrant will be served when Olsen's case in U.S. District Court is adjudicated.
The five-page affidavit contains statements from people interviewed by police investigating the case of Davis, who never returned home from a driver's ed class at Spanish Fork High on May 2, 1995.
In the document, several informants reported to police that they overheard or had direct conversations with Olsen when he talked about killing Davis.
"I can make someone disappear," Olsen is quoted as saying by one informant. "I did it once, I can do it again." Olsen also allegedly admitted to that same person that he had "sluffed with her, beat her and disposed of her body," according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also states that Olsen allegedly told several people he buried Davis in Spanish Fork Canyon.
The affidavit includes a statement from one informant who told police Olsen came to his house one night about two years after Davis' disappearance. The informant said Olsen was "visibly upset and had been drinking."
According to the affidavit, Olsen told the informant the police and the FBI were after him and that "I did it, I did it. I raped and killed Kiplyn Davis."
Another informant, the affidavit says, told police that at a party in July 2003, Olsen "admitted to her and others that he knew Kiplyn Davis was buried by the tunnels in Spanish Fork Canyon and that Tim Olsen admitted to (the informant) that 'I killed her and buried her under the train tracks.' "
A former employer told police, according to the affidavit, that in December 2004 "Tim Olsen admitted to burying Kiplyn in a sandy grave because she would sink to the bottom." The conversation allegedly occurred while they were at work.
The affidavit states another witness told police in August 2005 "that the area Kiplyn Davis is buried is called Kiplyn's Cove." The witness told police that one year, while he and a friend were sighting their rifles in the canyon, his friend, also a friend of Olsen's, picked some flowers and put them under a cedar tree. The affidavit states, "When (the witness) asked him if that's where she was, he indicated that it was. They both had the understanding that they were talking about Kiplyn Davis."
Officials have been searching on and off for years for Davis' body and say the lack of specificity — not weather conditions — is preventing them from finding her.
"It wouldn't matter how deep the snow was, if we knew exactly where she was, we would be there," said Spanish Fork Police Lt. Steve Adams, who prepared the affidavit. "We've searched in several locations that have been given to us through different sources, and we have not found her."
In the affidavit, Olsen is alleged to have asked individuals for help hiding a body. He is also alleged to have lamented while drunk that "he would rather kill himself than know the things he knows."
In a December interview, an informant told a Spanish Fork detective that Olsen once told her they took Davis to the canyon the day she died. "Tim Olsen admitted to getting into a fight with Kiplyn, and the other boy walked off," according to the affidavit. "Tim Olsen stated after the other male left he 'took care of Kiplyn Davis.' "
Another person told police he heard Olsen say at a party, "We just stuck her in a truck box and got rid of it."
Olsen is one of five men indicted by a grand jury for allegedly lying about their role in Davis' disappearance.
Scott Brunson, 28; Garry Blackmore, 25; Christopher Neal Jeppson, 28; David Rucker Leifson, 28; have also been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges ranging from lying to FBI agents to offering conflicting alibis.
"Scott Brunson indicated that Timmy Olsen came to him on several occasions to provide (him) with an alibi for the day of Kiplyn Davis' disappearance," the affidavit states.
Leifson and Jeppson also told officials they had been in the auditorium on the night in question, helping to set up for a school production — an account later disproved because records show there was a choir concert in the auditorium that night, making it impossible for the men to be in the facility "throwing a football," as they had said.
The federal grand jury — a closed legal proceeding used in select situations — has been a great tool in helping gather information for the investigation, Adams said.
"Oftentimes, when an individual speaks with an officer like myself, they don't have the thought of . . . any ramifications for lying to me, so the grand jury has . . . helped people be truthful," Adams said. "And if they're not, we're able to do something about those untrue statements."
The anonymity of a grand jury is also helpful for some individuals who have been threatened or feel endangered by sharing their testimony, Adams said.
Adams has been working on the case since 1997 and, along with co-workers, has interviewed more than 300 people. And they are still interviewing.
The Utah County Attorney's Office is also poring over boxes of information, interviews and grand jury reports, said Deputy Utah County Attorney Sherry Ragan, who heads the county's criminal division.
The federal case will go to trial in May. Ragan doesn't expect to see Olsen in 4th District Court until June or July.
Despite the delay, Tom Means, executive director of the Utah County Public Defender Association, said Olsen should still be entitled to legal representation now and has filed a related motion.
"He may not have made an appearance (in 4th District Court) yet, but he certainly has been charged here," Means said. "It is important that he have counsel that can get started on his case."
Because the public defender's office has previously represented one of the five individuals involved in the federal case, Means said they would hand off the appointment to a different attorney's office.
The state is opposing the motion by Means, arguing it is premature because Olsen has not asked for a public defender and might choose to retain a private attorney.
E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com