A man who is already serving a life sentence for shooting and killing a University of Utah student in 2017 has been moved to Colorado to face charges there for allegedly killing another man.
Prison officials confirmed that Austin Boutain, 25, has been extradited to Colorado, where he faces aggravated murder and other charges for allegedly killing 63-year-old Mitchell Bradford Ingle — the start of Boutain’s alleged two-state crime spree that left two dead and ended after a 14-hour man hunt in Salt Lake City.
Boutain and his wife, Kathleen Boutain, are accused of traveling to Utah days after they killed Ingle on Oct. 27, 2017. They sat in a dirt parking lot in Red Butte Canyon, authorities say, and hatched a plan to kidnap someone. They would use the victim’s money and credit cards to buy supplies, charging documents state, and they planned to kill the victim once they reached Tennessee. Alternatively, they considered killing the victim in the canyon and taking the vehicle, they told police.
This undated photo provided by University of Utah shows ChenWei Guo, a student killed in an attempted carjacking near campus Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. Police swarmed rugged mountain foothills near the University of Utah Tuesday, Oct. 31, searching for Austin Boutain, suspected of killing Guo while on the run after another homicide in Colorado. (University of Utah via AP)
But as they sat contemplating who their target might be, Kathleen Boutain became irritated, authorities say, because it was taking too long for her husband to find a victim. She implied that “Austin was a coward,” documents state, and they got into a fight before she left.
Ultimately, Austin Boutain shot and killed Utah student Chenwei Guo, a 23-year-old computer science major from China, who had been sitting in his car with a friend.
Boutain pleaded guilty to aggravated murder last year, a plea that spared him the death penalty in Utah. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the crime.
But he still is eligible for the death penalty in Colorado, where he is accused of slitting Ingle’s throat after the couple smoke and drank with him in his trailer in Golden.
A police affidavit states that the couple had been living in a tent under a bridge, and had walked by Ingles’ trailer and offered to share marijuana and a stolen bottle of cinnamon whiskey with Ingle, to whom Austin Boutain had previously sold marijuana.
Boutain later told police that Ingle kept making sexual comments to his wife as they drank together.
After Ingle went to bed, the affidavit states, the Boutains talked about robbing him. Their original plan was to kill Ingle with a crossbow while he slept, police say. Austin Boutain shot a bolt at Ingle, who was asleep, but the bolt didn’t penetrate his skin. It did wake Ingle, who got out of bed, according to the affidavit. Austin Boutain said he had “just tapped him on the hand to ask about something in the bathroom,” the affidavit states.
When Ingle went into the bathroom, Austin Boutain got his knife and cut Ingle’s throat, the affidavit alleges.
The couple then took Ingle's truck and headed to Utah, where Boutain shot and killed Guo three days later.
Austin Boutain is expected to make his first court appearance in Colorado on Friday, according to court records.
Both Boutains are charged with killing Ingle, but Kathleen Boutain has not yet been moved to Colorado. Her case in Utah is still pending, and she has pleaded guilty to two charges of theft by receiving stolen property for “retaining” Ingle’s truck and a stolen handgun in Utah. Prosecutors are expected to seek a prison sentence at a hearing next month.
