SALT LAKE CITY — A man already serving a life sentence for killing his girlfriend is now serving a second life sentence for the 1989 murder of a 71-year-old woman whom he used to transport in his taxi cab.
Gary Dean Hilfiker, 56, was ordered to serve life in prison for aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, by 3rd District Court Judge Deno Himonas Friday. Hilfiker pleaded guilty on May 30 — less than a month after he was charged in the death of Flora Rundle.
It took 24 years for Hilfiker to face charges in Rundle's death. The woman was found dead in her South Salt Lake home, 3518 S. 300 West, on Oct. 22, 1989, by family members who hadn't heard from her for a few days.
According to investigators, the door to Rundle's home had been pried open and she had been stabbed several times in the back and chest.
Hilfiker broke into Rundle's home, stabbed the woman to death during a struggle and took several hundred dollars from her purse. Prosecutors said Hilfiker admitted going to Rundle's home with a knife and with the intention to steal money from her.
Hilfiker — a cab driver who had taken Rundle to her home on several occasions because taxis were her main form of transportation — was a suspect after the death, but police said they lacked sufficient evidence to arrest him. Earlier this year, DNA evidence from the crime scene was processed through a database and it pointed to Hilfiker, who was already in the Utah State Prison serving time for an unrelated 1992 murder.
Hilfiker was previously sentenced to five years to life in prison for stabbing and killing his girlfriend, 38-year-old Marsha Haverty. She was stabbed 11 times before Hilfiker set her body and the house on fire.
During a 2010 parole hearing, Hilfiker said he had been on a three-day alcohol and crack cocaine binge on April 24, 1992, before that murder. He said he became a born-again Christian in 2001.
A parole board member that year said he would recommend Hilfiker spend at least 25 years in prison.
Email: emorgan@deseretnews.com, Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam