FARMINGTON — The fate of Edward Lewis Owens is now in the hands of a jury that must decide whether he is guilty of killing a woman in 1980.
Jurors deliberated until 9 p.m. Tuesday without reaching a verdict before asking the judge to let them go home and return Wednesday morning.
During closing arguments on Tuesday, prosecutors once again pointed to Owens as the man who strangled a struggling and desperate Karin Strom to death in the bedroom of her Woods Cross home 29 years ago.
But defense attorneys countered that the 25-year-old dead woman's fingernails held DNA not only from Owens, but also from her estranged and sometimes violent husband, Steven Strom, as well as two other identified donors, leaving open the possibility that someone else killed her.
The jury went out at 12:40 p.m. Tuesday to deliberate and decide the fate of Owens, 58, who is charged with first-degree felony murder.
Owens had been charged with the same crime before and was set to go on trial in 2008, but prosecutors asked that the case be dismissed then.
Charges were refiled eight months later.
Prosecutor William McGuire Tuesday outlined a series of events that showed only Owens could have been at the Strom home during the time of the killing, including the fact that Owens left the machine shop where he worked a night shift for a meal and did not return until 4 a.m. Steven Strom worked a graveyard shift at the same place, so Owens would know when Karin Strom would be alone in the house.
McGuire also said that Owens told a friend he was with Karin Strom that night, she wanted to split with her husband and go off with Owens and she and Owens fought about that.
Further, McGuire said Owens, upon coming back to work, gave conflicting accounts of the many scratches on his hands, first saying he had been playing with his dog, but the next day telling a co-worker the cuts were from machinery at work.
"Why didn't he tell the co-worker the day before? Because neither of these explanations were accurate," McGuire said. "Karin Strom made those."
Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings sketched charts on a whiteboard to illustrate information from four different DNA experts regarding Karin Strom's hands and material taken from Owens. "In 1980, the evidence existed on Karin Strom's body, but the science didn't exist."
Rawlings said DNA and other testing has shown that the fingernails on Karin Strom's right hand held semen from Owens and on her left hand, material from Owens that was neither semen nor saliva, but as the cells degenerated, they opened up in the manner that skin cells do.
"The most significant witness at this trial was Karin Strom," Rawlings said. "As she was struggling for her life, she was scratching at her assailant, collecting the evidence that testifies to you who her killer is. What that tells you is her killer is Ed."
However, defense attorney Michael Studebaker said his client is the innocent victim of a poor police investigation and zealous prosecutors determined to find someone to blame for the tragic death of a young woman.
Studebaker admitted his client had a relationship with Karin Strom and Owens' DNA was present on her.
"DNA alone does not equate to murder," Studebaker said. "You cannot determine when DNA is transferred."
A supervisor at the place where both Owens and Strom worked testified that scratches were not uncommon at the machine shop — in fact, the supervisor had experienced worse himself.
And although there were a multitude of items in the bedroom where Karin Strom died that could have been tested for possible DNA evidence, police collected and tested only a few. In addition, Karin Strom was close to two other men and no DNA samples have been sought from them.
"They want to prosecute Ed Owens for a shoddy investigation," Studebaker said.
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com