The pile of evidence grew significantly higher Friday in the case of a man charged with lying to a federal grand jury and to police about his involvement in the disappearance of 15-year-old Kiplyn Davis.
Some 15 of Timmy Brent Olsen's former friends and co-workers took the witness stand to testify that Olsen told an ever-changing account of Davis being taken up Spanish Fork Canyon and killed. At times, friends said, Olsen admitted being present on May 2, 1995 when Davis was taken up the canyon. At other times, Olsen distanced himself from the crime, saying it was other men who did it. But in every account, Olsen would also implicate co-defendant Rucker Leifson.
Friday marked the third day of testimony from a string of prosecution witnesses called to take the stand to detail a chilling account of what may have been the last hours of a teenage girl who simply decided to skip school and hang out with friends.
For more than a decade, authorities have sought to determine the teenager's fate, which is just now beginning to unfold in federal court, where perjury charges have been lodged against five men that prosecutors allege know something of what happened that day in May. Olsen, also charged with the murder of the teenager, is the first link.
A common theme Friday was that Olsen allegedly confessed to multiple people repeatedly, but those confessions never came to the attention of authorities.
Some testified that they thought Olsen was joking, while others said they were too afraid and simply didn't want to get involved. Members of Davis' family have commented before how frustrated they are that people waited years to come forward.
Kiplyn's friends Maevonna Johnson, Chelsea Deuel and Lindsey Turpin each testified to watching television with Olsen in the summer of 1999 when a television news story came up about Davis' disappearance. The women testified that Olsen used several crude words to describe Davis and then said he knew where she was.
"He said 'I know where she's at, I killed her,' " Johnson said.
"I took her up Spanish Fork Canyon and buried her up by the railroad tracks," Turpin recalled Olsen telling them.
The women said Olsen's comments scared them and they made a point afterward to stay away from Olsen in social settings. None of them reported his comments to police.
Ironically, the television report the group was watching was a story on the Davis family setting a memorial headstone to honor their missing daughter, who would have celebrated her 20th birthday. Her body has never been found.
Co-defendant Garry Blackmore took the stand as part of a plea deal to testify against Olsen to spare himself from spending a possible 10 years in federal prison for lying to a federal grand jury. Brought into the courtroom in a jail jumpsuit and chains, Blackmore testified that Olsen confessed to killing Davis and then threatened him to keep quiet during a party in 1998.
"He told me that him and a guy took a woman up Spanish Fork Canyon. They raped, beat her and disposed of the body," Blackmore said. Olsen warned him to be quiet, he said, "or that I would be next." Both had been drinking.
Tony Lunnam testified that a drunk Olsen confessed to him during a gambling trip to Mesquite, Nev., in 2001 or 2002. "He said that she was buried in a Diamond Plate tool box," up Spanish Fork Canyon, Lunnam said. Later, while watching "America's Most Wanted" Lunnam and his girlfriend, Stacy Atwood, noted a second incident. Atwood said the show highlighted the case of an unrelated kidnapping and murder. The couple heard Olsen muttering under his breath, "Done it before, can do it again." And, "Well, I did it and got away with it."
Two former co-workers testified that Olsen talked to them about Kiplyn Davis, saying Olsen commented that "we buried her in the sand" and that his friend "Rucker" killed her. Bricklayer Bob Gilner said that while they were on a job site, Olsen told him that he and Leifson took Kiplyn up the canyon where Leifson beat Davis to death with a flashlight and buried her in a blanket, Gilner said.
Jody Lunceford, a co-worker of Olsen's at a supplement company in Utah County, testified that Olsen told a similar story but that he told her he and a friend tied Davis up and "accidentally killed her while messing around."
The defense asked few questions during cross examinations. Olsen's attorney, Stephen McCaughey, plans to call about six witnesses next week.
In a new development, the mother of a girl that Olsen dated came forward this week after hearing news about the trial. Shauna Mansfield, the mother, testified that in the fall of 1996, she asked Olsen about his role in the disappearance because she was concerned about her daughter dating him.
She said Olsen told her that he and Leifson took Davis up the canyon. While Olsen was waiting in the vehicle, Leifson and Davis went for a walk. Later Leifson returned for a flashlight, saying Davis "did not put out," Mansfield said. A while later, according to Olsen, Leifson returned in a panic, saying "I did her in, I hurt her, we need to get the f*** out of here," Mansfield testified.
Outside court, Richard Davis said he was thankful for people having the courage to come forward now and talk about what they knew or had been told of what happened. When asked if he was disappointed that it took almost a decade for people to come forward Davis said only, "no comment."
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