Washington Death Index, 1940-1996
Name: Krystal L Beslanowitch
Date of Death: 16 Dec 1995
Age: 17
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1978
Residence: Spokane City
Gender: Female
Certificate: 090827
Arrest made in 1995 Wasatch County cold case killing
Krystal Beslanowitch, 17, was killed in 1995. Her body was found along the banks of the Provo River near Midway. Police believe she was beaten to death with rocks. Joseph Michael Simpson, 46, who already served time in the Utah State Prison in the 1980s for murder, was arrested in Sarasota County, Fla., on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013, for investigation of murder in her death.
Wasatch County Sheriff's Office
Wasatch County sheriff's investigators have made an arrest in a nearly 18-year-old cold case murder mystery.
1996 report: Wasatch County death is far from being solved
HEBER CITY — Wasatch County sheriff's investigators have made an arrest in a nearly 18-year-old murder mystery of a Salt Lake teen.
Joseph Michael Simpson, 46, who already served time in the Utah State Prison in the 1980s for murder, was arrested in Sarasota County, Fla., on Tuesday, according to the sheriff's office. Simpson previously lived in Clearfield.
The nude body of Krystal Lynn Beslanowitch, 17, was found Dec. 15, 1995, along the banks of the Provo River in an area known as North Field near Midway. She had suffered severe head trauma. Police believe she was beaten to death with rocks.
She was reported missing by her boyfriend two days after she failed to return from a late-night trip to a Salt Lake convenience store.
The case, however, went cold for investigators.
"When certain technological advances became available to law enforcement, hard-working detectives and analysts continued with the case and developed sufficient evidence to prosecute it," the sheriff's office wrote in a prepared statement.
Simpson was booked into the Sarasota County Jail for investigation of aggravated murder. Investigators expect he'll be returned to Utah within the next few weeks.
This won't be Simpson's first time facing a murder charge in Utah.
Simpson was arrested in August of 1987 by Clearfield police and was convicted of murder in a Farmington court a couple of months later, according to court records. Simpson first arrived at the Utah State Prison in November of 1987.
He was first paroled in April of 1995. In June of 1997, he received a travel permit while on parole, according to Department of Corrections spokesman Steve Gehrke. He went to Nevada where he was arrested on a drug-related charge.
Simpson spent a short time in jail in Nevada before being extradited back to Utah to serve his sentence at the Utah State Prison in June of 1997, Gehrke said. Simpson was paroled again in September of 1997, and completed parole in 2003.
Simpson has been living in Florida for 13 or 14 years, the sheriff's office said. But Utah state court records show that Simpson was in Utah as recently as 2010 when he received a minor traffic citation in Syracuse.
Beslanowitch grew up in Spokane, ash. Her mother, Linde Toreson, told the Deseret News in 1996 that her daughter had gotten involved with drugs and was prostituting by age 15.
"Every time she came home she had her arms spread out wide and a big smile on her face. I never refused her. I always loved her,'' Toreson said. "Whatever she was doing (she thought) was more important than living a normal life.''
Beslanowitch and her boyfriend had moved to Utah from Spokane just a few months earlier.
Washington Death Index, 1940-1996
Name: Krystal L Beslanowitch
Date of Death: 16 Dec 1995
Age: 17
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1978
Residence: Spokane City
Gender: Female
Certificate: 090827
Arrest made in 1995 Wasatch County cold case killing
Krystal Beslanowitch, 17, was killed in 1995. Her body was found along the banks of the Provo River near Midway. Police believe she was beaten to death with rocks. Joseph Michael Simpson, 46, who already served time in the Utah State Prison in the 1980s for murder, was arrested in Sarasota County, Fla., on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013, for investigation of murder in her death.
Wasatch County Sheriff's Office
Wasatch County sheriff's investigators have made an arrest in a nearly 18-year-old cold case murder mystery.
1996 report: Wasatch County death is far from being solved
HEBER CITY — Wasatch County sheriff's investigators have made an arrest in a nearly 18-year-old murder mystery of a Salt Lake teen.
Joseph Michael Simpson, 46, who already served time in the Utah State Prison in the 1980s for murder, was arrested in Sarasota County, Fla., on Tuesday, according to the sheriff's office. Simpson previously lived in Clearfield.
The nude body of Krystal Lynn Beslanowitch, 17, was found Dec. 15, 1995, along the banks of the Provo River in an area known as North Field near Midway. She had suffered severe head trauma. Police believe she was beaten to death with rocks.
She was reported missing by her boyfriend two days after she failed to return from a late-night trip to a Salt Lake convenience store.
The case, however, went cold for investigators.
"When certain technological advances became available to law enforcement, hard-working detectives and analysts continued with the case and developed sufficient evidence to prosecute it," the sheriff's office wrote in a prepared statement.
Simpson was booked into the Sarasota County Jail for investigation of aggravated murder. Investigators expect he'll be returned to Utah within the next few weeks.
This won't be Simpson's first time facing a murder charge in Utah.
Simpson was arrested in August of 1987 by Clearfield police and was convicted of murder in a Farmington court a couple of months later, according to court records. Simpson first arrived at the Utah State Prison in November of 1987.
He was first paroled in April of 1995. In June of 1997, he received a travel permit while on parole, according to Department of Corrections spokesman Steve Gehrke. He went to Nevada where he was arrested on a drug-related charge.
Simpson spent a short time in jail in Nevada before being extradited back to Utah to serve his sentence at the Utah State Prison in June of 1997, Gehrke said. Simpson was paroled again in September of 1997, and completed parole in 2003.
Simpson has been living in Florida for 13 or 14 years, the sheriff's office said. But Utah state court records show that Simpson was in Utah as recently as 2010 when he received a minor traffic citation in Syracuse.
Beslanowitch grew up in Spokane, ash. Her mother, Linde Toreson, told the Deseret News in 1996 that her daughter had gotten involved with drugs and was prostituting by age 15.
"Every time she came home she had her arms spread out wide and a big smile on her face. I never refused her. I always loved her,'' Toreson said. "Whatever she was doing (she thought) was more important than living a normal life.''
Beslanowitch and her boyfriend had moved to Utah from Spokane just a few months earlier.
