A South Salt Lake man was taken to the emergency room for mental health treatment on the night police believe he stabbed his girlfriend to death was charged Thursday with murder.
Police arrested Angelo Terry Kirstine, 24, at the University of Utah Hospital on Jan. 15, soon after he is accused of killing Ashley Vigil, 26, according to documents filed in 3rd District Court.
An underage witness told police Kirstine and Vigil had been living at the Eight20 Apartments, at 820 W. Timbercreek, since Kirstine was release from prison. The couple had been sleeping in the bedroom, while Kirstine’s sister, her boyfriend and Kirstine’s mother stayed in the living room, the documents state.
On Jan. 15, Kirstine’s sister said he came out of the bedroom and asked her to take him to their grandmother’s house. Once there he decided to spend the night, she said. He told family members before leaving the apartment that Vigil would be staying in their bedroom that night, according to a search warrant.
When the girl returned home, she found Vigil on the floor. At first, she thought Vigil was sleeping and had just rolled off the bed, but then the girl went into the bathroom and saw blood on the light switch and sink. She went back into the room and looked more closely at Vigil, finding that the woman’s eyes were open, she was bloody and had a hole in her throat.
Officers were called to the apartment, and Vigil was declared dead.
That same night, police learned Kirstine had checked into the emergency room at the University of Utah Hospital. Kirstine’s grandmother took him to the hospital, saying he needed a mental health evaluation, according to court documents.
When hospital staff asked Kirstine why he was there, he said, “the cops were at my house, and they found a dead body at my house,” court documents say. A police spokesman previously told The Salt Lake Tribune that hospital staff called them because Kirstine said he’d “hurt someone.”
Hospital staff noted Kirstine’s hands were swollen and his clothes were bloody. Officers arrested him that night, and he’s been held at Salt Lake County jail without bail since then.
According to a search warrant, Kirstine has PTSD and had been violent with family members before.
Kirstine was on parole from a 2013 aggravated robbery conviction at the time of the homicide. He is now facing a third-degree felony charge of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, in addition to the murder charge.
