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Victim’s family speaks after man charged with murder for allegedly spiking woman’s drink with meth

Posted at 9:26 PM, Dec 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-23 23:26:10-05

SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah -- The family of a Utah mom who police say was killed by her boyfriend spoke out Saturday about finding justice and closure more than a year and a half after Stacey Buchanan was murdered.

Buchanan was found unconscious in May of 2016, and now police say her boyfriend, Joshua Bridgewaters, is to blame.

Bridgewaters was arrested and charged this week.

Buchanan's family couldn't find closure for more than a year and a half, but this week they received answers.

Saturday, a grandmother and granddaughter went through old photos

“Remember he always called your mom his cupcake?"

They were thinking of good times with Stacey Buchanan, a mother of four.

Robin Bingham, Stacey’s mother, spoke about the loss.

“I miss her very, very much,” she said.

You can see that in her living room, where Stacey’s ashes, pictures and mementos are displayed.

“So she’s always with me, and I have something to remember her by,” Bingham said.

Buchanan died in May of 2016, leaving behind her kids who are now ages 8 to 18.

“I just really miss my mom,” Lyric Buchanan said.

Lyric, 14, remembers that day, when her mother had gone to a barbecue with her boyfriend of a few months, Joshua Bridgewaters. But along the way, something happened and Buchanan called her family.

“My last words were, ‘I love you’, but she was fighting on the phone with Joshua,” Lyric said.

Bingham said they received another call later that day.

“Next phone call I got was from the paramedics telling me that she had collapsed," Bingham said.

For a year and a half, they knew detectives were investigating the case, but they had few answers.

“It was hard to grieve and get the closure,” Bingham said.

It wasn’t until this week they learned that Bridgewaters has been arrested and is behind bars.

“The kids were crying, and I was crying; it just felt like it was so raw again,” Bingham said.

According to court documents, Bridgewaters put methamphetamine in Buchanan’s drink, leading to her death.

Her family said they can focus on healing now that they know what happened and that Bridgewaters is behind bars.

“I’m relieved that now I know what happened to her,” Lyric said.

“We just want justice for my daughter so bad,” Bingham said.

Prosecutors charged Bridgewaters with first-degree murder, obstructing justice, and tampering with a witness. He’s in jail on more than a million dollars bond.