Illogical explanations by a murder suspect in the cold-case slaying of a teenage girl didn't add up for a detective asked to revisit the case, the officer testified Tuesday.
When Salt Lake police detective Gordon Parks was asked to revisit the homicide case of Tiffany Hambleton, 14, he first reviewed all the old records and then began interviewing suspects.
One thing struck him as strange — a number of actions described by Dan L. Petersen seemed "illogical" to the detective, according to his testimony in 2nd District Court.
Petersen, 44, is on trial this week for first-degree felony murder in the fatal knifing of the girl whose body was later found in a ditch. Petersen and others told police that he, his brother and a friend had met the girl and some of her friends at a KISS concert at the Salt Palace Feb. 17, 1986, and invited the youths to an after-hours party at Petersen's home, where they drank beer.
Hambleton turned down an earlier ride home but wanted to leave about 4 a.m., and Petersen, despite fears about being picked up for driving under the influence, said he tried to give her a ride in his truck. However, he said it ran out of gas near 3900 South and State. He said he coasted into a restaurant parking lot and slept in the truck, but Hambleton decided to walk to her own home and that was the last time he saw her, he had told police.
Parks testified Tuesday that this sounded suspicious. First, the route Petersen said he took to get the girl home didn't make sense to Parks. "If you're taking somebody home, you'd go to the freeway. If you're intoxicated, you would not want to go to State Street, which was heavily patrolled."
It also was cold that night. "He could have walked home in 20 minutes. It seems illogical that someone would sleep in an open truck without a coat or a blanket." Thirdly, Parks said his research showed Petersen was unaccounted for during a four-to-five-hour period.
Parks also testified that he believes the homicide occurred near the area where the girl's body was found March 31, 1986, near 1100 South and 3400 West. "I think she died near the scene," Parks said. "The medical examiner's report said there was dirt on the bottom of her socks," suggesting she walked on the dirt road in the area before she was killed.
Petersen also has told police he did not have sex with Hambleton, but more modern DNA testing shows semen on her clothing that could only be his.
The trial is scheduled to run through Friday. Petersen is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail on $1 million cash-only bail.
This cold case and others were revived after Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson pushed for another look at the murders of Hambleton and other young females that occurred around the same time.
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com