SALT LAKE CITY — A jury has found a man guilty of murdering two men who went missing from the Salt Lake area in 2014 — however, he was acquitted of murdering a third man who was friends with the two other victims.
Richard Christopher, 58, was convicted of two counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder, one count of first-degree aggravated robbery, one count of second-degree felony obstructing justice, three counts of third-degree felony abuse or desecration of a dead human body, and one count of third-degree felony use of a firearm by a restricted person. He was found not guilty of a third count of first-degree felony aggravated murder in the decision made by the jury Tuesday night.
In November 2014, 34-year-old Levi Collins, 23-year-old Braden Emerson and 35-year-old Danny Gallegos were reported missing.
Then, after years with no answers for their families, Christopher was arrested and charged with the murders of all three men.
According to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, an unnamed witness told police that he was planning to meet Gallegos on Nov. 1, 2014. The witness said Gallegos was going to give him $200,000 in cash, with which the witness was going to purchase a home for Gallegos.
Gallegos showed up with Emerson and Collins to meet up with the witness at his retail business in downtown Salt Lake City. Christopher was there as well, and according to court documents, he shot Gallegos when he arrived.
The witness said Christopher then went out to Gallegos' SUV, where Emerson and Collins were waiting. He told them to drive to where an RV was parked, then shot and killed them both when they arrived.
Early on in the search for the three men, Gallegos' SUV was found abandoned with a large amount of blood. The blood matched Collins and Emerson.
The witness, who talked to police under an immunity agreement, said he and Christopher broke into a Utah County cremation facility that was meant for large animals, and they cremated the victims' bodies there. They then drove to a campground in Davis County to burn the remaining evidence and victims' belongings, according to police.
After a 4-day trial, the jury found Christopher guilty of murdering Collins and Emerson — but not Gallegos.
While it wasn't immediately clear why the jury chose to not convict Christopher for Gallegos' death, DA Sim Gill expressed overall gratitude.
“This is a horrible case of greed that led to the deaths of multiple men. We hope these convictions will help the victims’ families the chance to start healing from the tragic loss of their loved ones,” Gill said in a press release on Wednesday. “I commend the work of our prosecutors Marc Mathis, John Ham, Shantelle Argyle, and our victim counselor Pari Vroman, as well as the rest of our staff for their dedication to this case over the last ten years. We appreciate the work of Salt Lake City Police detectives who thoroughly investigated this case.”
Christopher's sentencing is scheduled for March 27.
