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- A West Valley couple was found dead in their home Wednesday and an adult son is suspected of killing them.
- The son, who lived at the home, was shot and killed by police responding to a 911 call.
- The couple were identified Friday as Terri Bertelsen, 63, and her husband, Kerry Bertelsen, 67,
WEST VALLEY CITY — The names of a West Valley couple killed by their adult son, who was then shot and killed in a confrontation with police, were released Friday.
Terri Bertelsen, 63, and her husband, Kerry Bertelsen, 67, were found deceased in their home on Wednesday afternoon.
The son, Erik Bertelsen, 35, had just been released from prison last month.
The investigation began about 5:10 p.m. when emergency dispatchers received a 911 call from a home at 3310 W. Enterado Ave.
"Officers responded and entered the home. Inside, they discovered the bodies of a male adult and a female adult who lived at the residence. Officers also encountered the adult son of the deceased couple who also lived at the residence and is the suspect in the deaths of his parents. During the encounter, an officer fired on the suspect, killing him," West Valley police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku said in a statement.
Information about what prompted officers to shoot was not released. West Valley police on Friday said they anticipate releasing body camera video to the public sometime within the next 10 days. The Salt Lake City Police Department will investigate the police shooting.
"At this time, we do not have a motive for the homicides," Vainuku said.
According to court records, Erik Bertelsen was known to police with his most recent arrest coming on Dec. 22. Late that night, West Valley police were called to 3310 W. Enterado Ave. after Bertelsen was spotted "running outside of his house and on the road in front of his house wearing only his boxers," a police booking affidavit states.
When officers asked what he was doing and why, "he said that he used 'a lot of meth,'" the affidavit says.
The arrest came just five days after Bertelsen was granted parole from the Utah State Prison, according to records from the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. He had been in and out of prison for parole violations on a fairly regular basis for over a decade.
In 2009, the then-19-year-old Bertelsen was arrested for throwing a party at the same house and started "displaying knives and a firearm while talking about killing people," according to police. At one point during the evening, he got into an argument with a person at the party. He left the room, but then came back "with his face painted black and displaying two large knives," a police booking affidavit states. He walked into the room stating that "someone was going to be stabbed, the devil is here, and he is going to kill."
Bertelsen was convicted in that case of two counts of aggravated assault and was sentenced to nine months in the Salt Lake County Jail and three years of probation.
But just a year later, he got into a fight with a former girlfriend at the same residence, would not let her leave and threatened to kill her, according to charging documents. Bertelsen was convicted in that case of kidnapping and was sentenced to another six months in jail followed by another three years of probation, court records state.
Chasity Ulibarri, who is stepdaughter of the deceased husband, said the couple "were good people."
"I kind of felt like something was going to happen. I sent the cops over here for a well care check four days ago because I knew he would keep taking their phones and I knew it wasn't them answering me," she said.
Charlene Evans says she knew the Bertelsens for the past three years.
"So giving and just always trying to help, always supportive, we did activities out in the back with all of us," she said. "Such a creative lady, always decorating, she always reached out, remembered everyone's birthdays, just very loving, caring person. And definitely wasn't her time."
Contributing: Shara Park
