It has been 16 years since 22-year-old Bryan Ruff left for work as a Kennecott security guard and never came home. On Monday, a judge imposed the maximum sentence on the man prosecutors say shot Ruff five times in the back and stuck the body in a shallow grave.
Third District Judge Paul Maughan sentenced Dale B. Bradley, 38, to two prison terms of two to 20 years in prison, with the sentences running consecutively, for second-degree felony kidnapping and manslaughter.
Bradley's defense attorney, Loni DeLand, said his client has a lifelong history of severe diabetes and went into a diabetic coma that produced amnesia on that day — so Bradley does not believe he killed anyone and, if he did, he does not remember it.
Prosecutor Vincent Meister insisted Bradley cold-bloodedly killed Ruff because Ruff was having an affair with Bradley's then-wife.
Meister scoffed at the amnesia theory and said it was quite conveniently interspersed with times Bradley could tell police in detail where he was and what he did that day.
Ruff disappeared Dec. 10, 1991, and his body was not found until July 1993 by campers at Five Mile Pass near Fairfield.
The case was a mystery for some time, but new evidence emerged, including work by Salt Lake County sheriff's detective Todd Park, who matched a slash of red paint on Ruff's boot with paint found on Bradley's car.
The cold case got renewed momentum in April 2005 when Bradley's second wife, Crystal, was found stabbed to death outside their mobile home in Wellington, near Price. Bradley is considered a person of interest in that case, but no charges have been filed.
Jennifer Campbell, Bryan Ruff's widow who has since remarried, wept as she told the judge of the anguish and uncertainty she and Bryan's family endured while he was missing. She was pregnant with a baby girl and they had a toddler daughter when he died. After that came years of grief over his slaying.
Even though she is happily remarried, Campbell said her sorrow over Bryan Ruff's murder will never go away — and his daughters, parents, siblings and friends also mourn him.
"This was not a crime of passion," Campbell said. "This was a revenge killing for being jilted."
Campbell said her late husband made a mistake in having an affair, but overall he was a good person and his entire life should not be defined by a few weeks of lapsed judgment.
Pat Ruff, Bryan's mother, who came from South Carolina with her husband, Frank, for the sentencing, described her late son as friendly, good-humored, outgoing and hard-working and said his loss hurt many people. "There aren't words to describe losing a child."
Bryan Ruff's daughter, Brittany, now 16, accompanied to the courtroom podium by her sister, Jessica, 15, tearfully told the judge that Bradley's crime kept her from ever knowing her father. "I watched my mom and my grandparents suffer," she said. "I can never get him back."
Bradley, looking pale and subdued, expressed sorrow for the Ruff family's grief but repeated his claim that he does not remember what happened.
"How do I show remorse for something I don't have any memory of? I feel bad for the family," he said. "I know they've experienced a tragic loss, but I can't come and tell them a story I don't know anything about."
Also attending the sentencing was Crystal Bradley's father, Dan Carpenter, who flew in from Wisconsin. Carpenter and his wife have been watching this case closely for any information about what happened to their slain daughter. Carpenter even offered a $5,000 reward to anyone with information leading to a conviction in his daughter's slaying.
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com