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- Daniel Hunter Dangerfield, 20, faces attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping charges.
- The Riverton man allegedly crashed a car at high speed into a tree, injuring his girlfriend.
- Prosecutors say he threatened to kill her and told her he couldn't live without her.
DRAPER — A Riverton man who allegedly told his girlfriend that he'd rather be dead than not have her was charged Wednesday with trying to kill the woman in a crash.
Daniel Hunter Dangerfield, 20, is charged in 3rd District Court with attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping, first-degree felonies. Both charges come with domestic violence enhancement penalties if convicted.
On March 13, police say Dangerfield and his live-in girlfriend were discussing relationship issues while sitting in a car. Dangerfield cut his arm with a knife before pointing the knife at his 19-year-old girlfriend, according to charging documents.
The woman then got out of the vehicle, "and Dangerfield told her that he would rather be dead if he didn't have her," the charges allege.
The woman eventually got back into the car, and the two decided to drive and talk things out. But about an hour into their drive, police say Dangerfield made several comments, including "that she needed to tell him what she was to him or they were both going to die; he told her that her two options were to say she was his wife or to die; and that he didn't want to live in a world without her," according to the charges.
Dangerfield continued to drive between 140 mph and 180 mph before crashing the car into a tree while on a 35 mph road, the charges state. The woman was taken to a local hospital where she "underwent spinal fusion surgery for her spine fracture and surgery on her ankle fractures."
Data collected at the crash scene showed that "the accelerator (was) at 100% in the seconds before the crash," and "the roadway where the vehicle crashed is a straight, flat section with a left curve. The report indicates that Dangerfield turned the steering wheel to the right in the seconds before the crash," according to the charges.
Prosecutors say there is a history of domestic violence with the couple that shows "a pattern of domestic abuse in the relationship that has occurred for at least the last year," including an incident in 2024 when the woman was choked to unconsciousness, the charges say.
Domestic violence resources
Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting:
- Utah Domestic Violence Coalition: Utah's confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic violence hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
- YWCA Utah Survivor Services: 801-537-8600
- Utah's statewide child abuse and neglect hotline: 1-855-323-DCFS (3237)
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
