Provo • A man convicted in the 1995 death of a Utah high school student wouldn’t answer questions about the location of the girl’s remains during a parole hearing and said he had already provided all the information he could.
Timmy Brent Olsen pleaded guilty in 2011 to second-degree felony manslaughter in the death of Kiplyn Davis, 15, a student at Spanish Fork High School, The Daily Herald reported Tuesday.
Olsen was sentenced to one to 15 years in prison under a plea deal that prosecutors said they agreed to because of the difficulty of the case in not having found Davis’ body.
Olsen, a former classmate of the girl, led prosecutors on what they called a “wild goose chase” and changed his story about the girl being buried in Spanish Fork Canyon.
His attorney, Carolyn Howard, said Olsen told the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole at his first parole hearing Tuesday that he’s made “progress” behind bars and received a culinary arts certification.
He refused to answer further questions about the case and where Davis’ body could be found despite being told that not doing so could prevent him from getting parole.
A photo of Kiplyn Davis shortly before her disappearance May 2, 1995.
Gov. Spencer Cox signed a law in February that blocks parole for someone convicted of homicide unless “the remains of the victim have been recovered” or they “can demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that the offender has cooperated in good faith efforts to locate the remains.”
The legislation, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Mike McKell, was inspired by Davis’ disappearance.
Howard said she believes Olsen was being “honest and truthful” during the parole hearing but that she “had no expectation today that he would be released because of this new law.”
The attorney criticized the law, saying it is “almost as if he’s being retried” and that “the problem with the law is that it essentially comes down to credibility.”
The Board of Pardons and Parole has not yet made a decision about whether to grant Olsen parole.
