- Brandin Lynn Reynolds, 43, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for murder.
- Reynolds killed Owen Shuck, his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend, in August 2024 in Ballard, Uintah County.
- Reynolds pleaded guilty in July to the stabbing death of Shuck.
BALLARD, Uintah County — A Uintah County man was sentenced Tuesday to a term of 15 years to life in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend.
Brandin Lynn Reynolds, 43, of Roosevelt, pleaded guilty in July to murder, a first-degree felony, in the death of Owen Shuck, 44, as part of a plea deal. Shuck was the boyfriend of Reynolds' ex-girlfriend, according to prosecutors.
In August 2024, deputies found Owen Shuck, 44, was unresponsive after receiving multiple stab wounds during a fight in Ballard. Shuck died the next day and Reynolds was taken into custody for questioning.
Because Reynolds was on parole at the time and is a registered sex offender in Utah, deputies were able to look up his registered vehicle and found it matched the description of the vehicle seen leaving Shuck's residence, according to a police booking affidavit.
Deputies found Reynolds at his home in Roosevelt the next day. He claimed he was with a family member all night. However, a detective reported noticing what appeared to be blood spots on his shoe and inside his vehicle. He was arrested on a parole violation while the killing was investigated.
During their investigation, detectives collected blood samples from Reynolds' vehicle, articles of clothing and two kitchen knives. While in Vernal, police found what appeared to be bloody towels in a trash bin near a fitness center.
"Detectives were also able to locate surveillance footage of Brandin purchasing a bottle of bleach and paper towels from a 7-Eleven in Vernal before showering at the fitness center," the affidavit states. "Detectives also located messages Brandin sent to an acquaintance on Aug. 24 … the day of the murder: 'I not doing so good I haven't been doing good in a long time and I just need to get that damn (Shuck) out of the way.'"
On Sept. 9, 2024, Reynolds was charged in 8th District Court with murder, a first-degree felony; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and two counts of being a restricted person in possession of a weapon, a third-degree felony. In exchange for pleading guilty to the murder charge, the other charges were dismissed.
Charging documents say Reynolds killed Shuck by beating him with a bat and stabbing him with a knife and he tried to hide the weapons by putting them in a dumpster in another city.
In 2004, Reynolds was convicted of sex abuse of a child and attempted sex abuse of a child. He was sentenced to a term of three years to life in prison and was granted parole in 2020. Two days after Shuck's death, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole issued a warrant for Reynolds' arrest for violating the conditions of his parole.
