On the stand Wednesday, June 4, former Wasatch County Sheriff’s Det. Hayden Walker said detectives found the gun buried under a rock, “no more than 100 yards” from Greg Kyle DeBoer’s Browns Canyon home.
Walker was one of two detectives who testified during a hearing to decide if DeBoer will stand trial on a felony obstruction of justice charge in connection with the death of Patrick Hayes.
Hayes was shot and killed near Jordanelle State Park last September. DeBoer was arrested and charged three months later after he admitted to shooting Hayes and burying the gun.
Walker told a crowded courtroom he was on the scene in November during the search of DeBoer’s property. Found alongside the gun case, he said, were rounds of ammunition that matched the rounds used the night of the shooting.
He said the Wasatch Back Major Crimes Task Force decided to arrest DeBoer and search his property after receiving multiple tips from people who recognized the description of the vehicle and weapon involved. Other information from the investigation, including cell tower data, supported those tips.
DeBoer’s attorney, Andrew Deesing, argued that by preserving the gun so carefully, his client wasn’t getting in the way of the investigation. He said DeBoer cooperated with investigators and told them where to find the buried gun.
“I wouldn’t be terribly wrong in saying that my client preserved evidence for you,” he told Walker.
Wasatch County Sheriff’s Detective Marcus Gardner also testified. He interviewed DeBoer twice on the day of the arrest, after law enforcement planned and executed a traffic stop to safely bring him into custody.
Gardner said at first, DeBoer was reluctant to give details about the firearm and “initially denied involvement in the incident,” but when the detective said the weapon was likely to be found anyway, DeBoer was more forthcoming.
Gardner said DeBoer told him that he buried the gun one or two weeks after the shooting, and that he decided to bury it in part because he thought someone might come looking for it in relation to what happened.
Now that 4th District Judge Jennifer Mabey has heard the testimony, she must decide whether prosecutors have shown sufficient evidence to send the case to trial. Mabey said she will issue a written decision.
