Sever, 20, was sentenced Wednesday morning, April 2, after pleading guilty to two felony charges of rape in December 2024. He now faces prison time.
Both charges stemmed from incidents between February and March of last year, while Sever was employed as a caregiver at Spring Gardens Senior Living in Heber.
He admitted to raping an 85-year-old woman with advanced dementia and attempting to rape an 82-year-old woman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
In 4th District Court Wednesday, the prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Langdon Fisher, brought the judge photographs of the victims, since they weren’t able to speak on their own behalf.
“Those crimes against those two women were so egregious that they simply shock the conscience,” he said. “He said he figured he could get away with it because they couldn’t do much about it. His victims’ vulnerability wasn’t a drawback to the defendant. Their inability to communicate was a perk for him.”
He said he believed prison was the only appropriate outcome for Sever.
“He needs to be punished, plain and simple, for committing these heinous acts,” he said.
Several of the victims’ family members also spoke and asked Judge Jennifer Mabey to send Sever to prison.
A victim’s daughter wept as she told the court how her mother started acting afraid when she left for the night.
“I’d wait till she’d fall asleep,” she said. “And I came in the next day, and they’re like, ‘Your mom was hiding under the bed.’ And I was so confused, like, what is going on? She’s having such a hard time, and she’s scared. She’s never been scared before.”
The daughter said she’s still grieving what happened to her mother.
“It was devastating, and it still is,” she said. “It hurts my heart that I was the one who put her in there. I thought she would be safe in there.”
One victim’s son-in-law asked Mabey to impose the harshest sentence allowed by law.
Sever’s attorney, Clint Hendricks, emphasized the 20-year-old turned himself in and didn’t try to minimize what he had done.
“Your Honor, that is an unusual situation,” he said. “It’s not very often somebody will come and self-report, knowing that their actions are going to take them to jail for an indeterminate amount of time.”
Sever confessed to his father, Heber City Police Chief Parker Sever, in July 2024. The chief told KPCW he reported his son’s actions to the Utah attorney general.
Hendricks argued his client wouldn’t benefit from spending his formative years in prison. He called Sever’s actions “a product of youth and substance abuse” and argued Sever should instead face inpatient treatment or home confinement.
“Jayden is going to be a felon and a sex offender for the rest of his life,” he said. “There is not going to be a day that he is not reminded of his own actions. The question is, can he be turned around to still be a productive member of society for his remaining years?”
Hendricks read aloud part of a statement in a pre-sentence report shared with the court, in which Jayden Sever said he took full responsibility for his actions and was committed to “make this right and make sure it never happens again.”
Appearing online from the Utah County Jail, Jayden Sever declined to speak during the sentencing hearing.
Mabey said she found it difficult to determine a sentence because it couldn’t undo the damage of the crimes.
“Regardless of what the outcome is, people are often left feeling somewhat empty because it doesn’t change that, from the day that these incidents happened forward, people’s lives were forever impacted,” she said.
She said she was convinced Sever’s actions required prison time and sentenced Sever to three years to life in prison for attempted rape and five years to life for object rape. Mabey recommended the sentences be served concurrently and that Sever be granted credit for time already spent in jail.
“I would encourage you that you have choices to make as you go into a prison sentence, Mr. Sever,” she said. “I would strongly encourage you to choose a path that helps you grow and come out of prison a better person.”
Chief Sever told KPCW Wednesday he is praying for the victims and their families.
“Hopefully this will bring some peace to the families and victims that were involved in his acts,” he said.
The Utah Office for Victims of Crime hasn’t yet defined what kind of restitution Jayden Sever owes the women and their families. It will be determined at a hearing May 21.
