‘GOODBYE, RILEY’

Utah Man Found Guilty of Killing Teens and Throwing Their Bodies Down a Mine Shaft

Prosecutors said Jerrod Baum was motivated by jealousy—and a $500,000 insurance payout.

A jury on Friday convicted a Utah man of kidnapping and murdering a teenage couple during a jealous rage, then throwing their bodies down an 1,800-foot mine shaft. Jerrod William Baum, 46, was found guilty of aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, desecration of a body, obstruction of justice, and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Baum was charged with killing Brelynne “Breezy” Otteson, 17, and her boyfriend, Riley Powell, 18, upon finding that his then-girlfriend, Morgan Henderson Lewis, was spending time with them after he had forbidden her from speaking to other men. Prosecutors said Baum was also motivated by a $500,000 insurance payment that Lewis had recently come into. “Goodbye, Riley, you piece of shit,” Baum said before slitting the teen’s throat, Lewis testified.