WEST JORDAN — Police are investigating the slayings of four people whose bodies were found Thursday night inside an apartment at the Willow Cove complex near 9300 South and Redwood Road.
Police said two officers responding to the scene entered the apartment and discovered the bodies. An initial search about 8:30 p.m. determined that nothing more could be done medically for the victims, so the officers retreated so as not to disturb evidence. After midnight, police gained access to the apartment with a search warrant.
West Jordan Police Sgt. Drew Sanders said police responded to the site after several area police agencies received calls reporting unusual activity in the area around 7:30 p.m. After comparing information from the calls, police determined Willow Cove was the location.
Sanders said a man and a woman were found in the apartment along with two young boys. He said police believe it was a family, but had not confirmed the relationship of the victims.
Willow Cove resident Brandi Coles, 20, said she and her mother, Tammy, 44, were watching television in her apartment about 2 a.m. Thursday and heard what they believed to be gunshots.
"I figured it had to be a gunshot," Brandi Coles said. "I haven't seen people lighting fireworks."
"It wasn't fireworks; it was the wrong sound," Tammy Coles added.
Brandi Coles said the shots came from a different building than the one in which she lives. She said she and her mother did consider calling police, but they thought someone else would.
"It's making me sick," Brandi Coles said. "They were quick shots, sporadic."
Brandi Coles, who has lived at Willow Cove for about a month, said she had heard about a murder in the complex earlier this year and said she also was told a meth lab had been found in the complex as well. She said another family member has lived in the complex for 20 years but could not recall any other incidents.
Willow Cove is the same apartment complex where 15-year-old Kara Hopkins was shot and killed by her boyfriend during a party in April 2007. Parley Jeffs Dutson, 21, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the slaying after pleading guilty to murder in a plea bargain earlier this month. Dutson was convicted of murder and aggravated sexual assault during a jury trial in 2008, but the conviction was overturned after it was learned one of the jury members had not disclosed she had been a rape victim earlier in her life. Dutson entered the plea bargain shortly before a new trial was to begin.
Willow Cove resident Dalton Farmer said he was standing on the balcony of his apartment when police passed and he asked what was going on. He said police told him there had been a murder.
"It's awful; there are a lot of kids that live here," Farmer said.
e-mail: lgroves@desnews.com