SALT LAKE CITY — Child abuse, road rage, gangs, domestic violence, a police officer struck down and the state's first execution in 14 years marked a violent 2024 in Utah.

During 2024, 100 people were killed as a result of homicide — up from the year before and the highest number since 2020, according to statistics kept exclusively by KSL.com. There were 94 Utah homicides in 2023, compared to 80 in 2022, 95 in 2021, 103 in 2020, and 80 in 2019.

Sixty-eight of those 100 victims were killed from gunfire, which is down from 77% a year ago.

Four people were killed in road rage cases; six people were killed in gang-related incidents last year; and eight people were killed in self-defense.

Fifteen people were shot and killed by police officers across the state in 2024, according to statistics from KSL.com. That's down from 20 in 2023.

Homicide is defined as the killing of one person at the hands of another, whether it is done intentionally, recklessly, accidentally or in self-defense. Murder is the legal term used in criminal cases for the unlawful killing of another person. A person who commits a homicide may not necessarily be charged with murder. For example, while fatal police shootings are homicides, most of those shootings are determined by a county attorney to be legally justified and charges are seldom filed.

In 2024, Utah executed Taberon Dave Honie, 48, by lethal injection, the first person put to death by the state since 2010. Although it was a court-ordered execution, Honie's manner of death is still considered a homicide.

Santaquin Police Sgt. Billy Dean Hooser, 50, was killed in May after police say he was intentionally hit by a semitruck. He became the first officer killed in the line of duty in Utah in four years, The driver, Michael Aaron Jayne, 42, is charged with capital murder and prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty.

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Grim tally: A look at each of Utah's 100 homicide victims of 2024

There were 100 homicides in Utah during 2024, according to statistics compiled annually by KSL.com. Nearly 70% of the victims were shot to death.

KSL.com counted 34 homicide victims who were killed as a result of domestic violence in 2024.

A total of 16 children under the age of 14 were killed last year, with 14 of those victims being 10 years old or younger, including:

• The youngest victim in 2024 was 2-month-old Calvin Chacone who died of a skull fracture and brain bleed after his mother, Bryce Jo Harkins, of Riverdale, punched him in the head when he would not stop crying.
• Adlai Owen, 6, was shot and killed by his father, Samuel Bean Owen, 34, in their Salt Lake home. Samuel Owen, who had allegedly been struggling with his declining mental health in the weeks leading up to the shooting, then took his own life.

Some of the most shocking homicide investigations of the year involved parents accused of abusing their children or in two cases, killing their entire family, including:

• Gavin Peterson, 12, of West Haven, died in July following years of abuse, including severe malnutrition, police say. Gavin's father, stepmother and an older brother are each charged with child abuse homicide.
• Also in West Haven, siblings Jordan Ibarra, 4, Yaitza Ibarra, 2, and Alitzel Ibarra, 1, were found dead in September inside a car parked in their driveway, along with their mother. Police believe Maribel Ibarra, 32, shot her three children in the rear cargo area of her vehicle before turning the gun on herself. Her family cited mental health issues.
• In December, Bu Meh, 38, her son Boe Reh, 11, and daughters Kristina Ree, 8, and Nyay Meh, 2, were found shot inside their West Valley home. Sha Reh, 17, was found alive but with a traumatic brain injury from being shot in the head. Police believe Bu Meh's husband, Dae Rah, 42, shot everyone in his family before killing himself.

The youngest person accused of killing another person in 2024 — and one of the youngest in state history — was a 9-year-old boy who police say shot his father in their Tooele home in February.

Road rage also became a buzzword in 2024 and four people died after road rage incidents:

• On June 3, James Edward Saccato, 63, and Justin Kent Doman, 35, were in a road rage fight in Clearfield and police say Doman hit Saccato's car twice. Saccato stopped, got out of his car and approached Doman, who allegedly shot Saccato. Police say Doman was the aggressor, but he says it was self-defense.
• That same day in Lehi, Michael Alden Brown, 38, and John Jeffrey Williams, 43, were in a road rage incident when both drivers stopped and got out to fight. Brown was hit in the head and knocked out and died later that day. His two sons were in the car at the time. Williams pleaded guilty to homicide by assault.
• On Sept. 25, Patrick L. Hayes, 61, was shot near Jordanelle State Park by Greg Kyle DeBoer, 62. Hayes got out of his vehicle with a metal baton and pocket knife in hand when DeBoer shot him. Police say the shooting was in self-defense, but he is facing charges accusing him of fleeing the scene and burying the gun.
• On Oct. 7, Jose Ramirez, 50, was shot and killed. Thomas Jim Long, 44, is accused of getting out of his car after both cars crashed, then firing 15 rounds at Ramirez at close range.

There were also cases of women accused of killing, or plotting to kill, their significant others in 2024, including:

• Jennifer Gledhill, 41, allegedly shot her estranged husband, Matthew Johnson, 51, a member of the U.S. military Special Operations Unit, in his sleep and then disposed his body in a shallow grave that has yet to be found.
• Matthew Restelli, 42, was shot seven times shortly after arriving at his mother-in-law's American Fork home after driving from California. Family members claimed Restelli was armed and was shot in self-defense. But after an extensive investigation, police say Restelli's estranged wife, who was staying with her mother, lured him from California to Utah, had her brother shoot an unarmed Restelli, then planted a knife in his hand to make it appear as if he was the aggressor.

Gang violence got a lot of attention in 2024 following a series of killings during the summer that involved teenagers and, in some cases, victims who were mistaken for gang members, including:

• Nuer Deng, 17, a student at Judge Memorial Catholic High School and a member of the basketball team, was shot while sitting in the back of a car stopped in a West Valley store parking lot in July. Police say he was an innocent bystander. Two documented gang members had an ongoing dispute with another person in Nuer's car. Mare Biel, 18, and Bevan Kuajian, 17, are both charged with murder.
• In August, Naod Welday, 18, was shot while inside a car at the Mount Olympus trailhead parking lot. Welday and his friends, who are not gang members, were approached by a group of documented gang members who prosecutors say may have targeted Welday's group because of how they looked.
• Kian Hamilton, 16, of Sandy, a freshman at Jordan High School and a member of the baseball team, was killed in a fight in the Mountain American Expo Center parking lot that initially didn't involve him. Christopher Cazares de la Rosa, 16, who police say is associated with documented gang members, is charged as an adult with murder.

Cases charged as manslaughter are included in KSL.com's yearly statistics, which according to Utah law, means a person "recklessly" caused the death of another. Cases that are charged as automobile homicide or negligence resulting in death were not counted to remain consistent with statistics from previous years. Most negligence cases involve fatal crashes between drivers and either pedestrians, bicycles or other vehicles.

But, in 2024, there were several fatal crashes that were charged as manslaughter and even murder, including:

• In July, Richard David Hendrickson, 57, and his daughter, Sally Isabelle Hendrickson, 16, were killed when an improperly secured bulldozer being hauled on the back of a tow truck slipped off its trailer and crashed into the Hendricksons' vehicle in Ogden Canyon, police say. Tow truck driver Michael John Love, 51, is charged with two counts of manslaughter. Love was towing a 32,000-pound bulldozer, which was about 4,300 pounds over the maximum allowed weight for the tow truck.
• In October in West Valley City, Nancy Arbon, 52, was hit head-on by a man driving the wrong way down a narrow one-way street while fleeing from police. Cesar Omar Perez, 23, of Lehi, is charged with murder for allegedly causing the fatal crash just east of the Valley Fair Mall.

Prosecutors also held drug dealers responsible for the overdose deaths of four victims, including:

• Kylee Dittrich-Gray, 31, was found dead of a fentanyl overdose. John Parry, 39, and his wife Kimberly Dawn Hare, 33, were each charged with manslaughter. Both pleaded guilty in federal court to distribution of fentanyl resulting in death.
• Kim Marie Lyons, 51, was found dead in her apartment from a drug overdose in July. Mark Edward Santanello, 42, who is accused of selling the drugs to the woman, is charged with manslaughter.
• Traeger Bradshaw, 26, died in Minersville, Beaver County, of an overdose. Chelsea Martyn Wiley, 31, of Mesquite, is charged with manslaughter and accused of supplying him with fentanyl.

In Utah County, prosecutors are holding a mother responsible for the self-inflicted shooting death of her 8-year-old son. Jennifer Marie Pu'u, 44, of Lehi — who police say has a history of leaving guns lying around unsecured — was charged with manslaughter and abuse or neglect of a child with a disability. Pu'u drove her minivan with her son, who was disabled, to the Maverik convenience store, 3569 N. Thanksgiving Way. Within two minutes of leaving the vehicle, police say her son got ahold of her loaded and unsecured gun. The boy allegedly functioned on the level of a 2-year-old and had "no concept of the danger a real gun presented."

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