Police on Tuesday arrested the wife of a 42-year-old man who was fatally shot in American Fork this summer, as well as the woman’s mother and brother, alleging the family plotted to kill him and cover up their crimes.
The documents say Matthew Restelli‘s wife wanted out of the couple’s seven-year marriage but didn’t know how. She had already left the couple’s home in California with their two children to stay with her mother in Utah. There, she confided in her mother and online friends, and ultimately, the documents allege, she and her mother and brother schemed to kill Restelli.
The plot, officers allege in probable cause statements, included a ploy to get Restelli to drive to Utah, a tracker to watch his movements, a planted knife and a plausible self-defense setup.
But police said in a news release that they saw through the conspiracy after an “intensive, time-consuming, and meticulous investigation.”
The brother, 33-year-old Kevin Ellis, has been charged with murder, as well as drug, gun and domestic violence changes. He hasn’t yet entered a plea.
Restelli’s wife and the woman’s mother were both booked into jail Tuesday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, obstruction of justice, and two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child.
They all remained in Utah County jail as of Thursday afternoon, without the option to post bail.
The Salt Lake Tribune typically does not name criminal defendants unless they have been charged.
A ‘helpless’ situation
While in Utah, police say Restelli‘s wife contacted a divorce attorney. That meeting left her feeling “helpless” and unsure of “what to do” — apparently worried about custody laws, since she had taken their children across state lines.
Meanwhile, Restelli was asking his wife to return to California. He offered to send her money so she could rent a car.
When she relayed that conversation to her mother, according to text messages police reviewed, the mother suggested she fake a sprained ankle.
“Can’t drive with that ankle!,” she wrote, according to text messages reviewed by police. “I know we can wrap it and make it look swollen under the wrap.”
Restelli then planned to drive to Utah to pick up his wife. Police said she texted him the gate code to her mother‘s neighborhood, her mother’s address and a photo of the house on July 12 — the day he was set to leave California — so he would know “exactly where to go.”
He told his wife that day he was worried his truck would leak oil on the driveway, so she laid down a piece of cardboard he could later park on. He also worried that if he turned off the car, it wouldn‘t restart, so he planned to leave it running for the 15 minutes it would take to load up and leave, police said, according to recordings of the couple’s phone conversations.
She then asked him, “Are you going to come inside?,” the recordings showed. He didn’t answer, and she asked again. He said yes.
“OK,” she said. “The front door is always unlocked, OK?”
The same morning, she wrote in her social media group: “I have to do big girl things this morning... wish me luck”.
Restelli’s arrival
At 10:06 p.m., Restelli pulled into the home’s driveway, according to a neighbor’s security camera footage. His wife and children were upstairs. Ellis and his mother were also home.
One minute later, a neighbor heard gunshots. They first called Restelli‘s wife’s family, but no one answered. At 10:09 p.m., they called police. Restelli‘s wife’s mother called 911 at 10:15 p.m.
When police arrived at the home, they found Restelli dead with multiple gunshot wounds.
The family first told police that Restelli and his wife were going through a separation, and he showed up at the house with a knife. So, according to a probable cause statement, they said Ellis shot Restelli in self-defense, noting Restelli was “agitated” and surprised them.
The documents say officers found Restelli on the ground inside, with a knife in his right hand. But the family’s story unraveled as police examined the evidence.
The knife blade, police noticed, was facing toward Restelli’s hand — the opposite of how someone would normally brandish a weapon. And he was left-handed.
“It appeared that the knife was possibly placed into Matthew‘s right hand after he had been shot dead,” police wrote in a probable cause statement. Likely, officers wrote, in the minutes between the shooting and the mother’s call to police.
Officers arrested Ellis that night, who they suspect pulled the trigger, and took Restelli‘s wife, 36, and her mother, 59, in for questioning. They also seized the women’s phones.
Other clues
Those phones helped build a case against the family.
In May, police found that Restelli’s wife had texted a friend saying, “I’m trying to wait… I just might murder Matt today though…”
Detectives also learned the family had been tracking Restelli using an AirTag hidden in his truck since at least June. They were texting about his movements minutes before the shooting.
In June and July, police found the mother had searched online for various topics apparently regarding her daughter‘s parental rights — and the death of Daniel Markel. Markel was a Florida State University law professor killed in an apparent conspiracy plotted by his ex-wife’s mother and brother.
They also found that on July 12, just after 2 p.m., she searched for the “its happening meme” — an image or gif of Steve Carrell’s sitcom character Michael Scott from “The Office” excitedly shouting, “It’s happening!”
The next day, Restelli‘s wife talked to some of her online friends on a video call. She told them Restelli was dead and showed them the blood on the floor where he was shot.
When they expressed condolences, Restelli’s wife told them it was OK and she was happy, the friends told police. She went on a date that day.
Even the knife found in Restelli‘s hand, police say, likely did not belong to him.
Instead, they found an email suggesting his wife‘s mother got it in April when she visited a friend to help after the friend’s husband died. The husband apparently subscribed to a monthly surprise box of tactical gifts — which included the type of knife found in Restelli’s hand.
The mother had emailed the company that same month to cancel the dead man’s subscription.
Who was Restelli?
In interview with police after Restelli’s death, his wife said the couple had been having marital issues, and Restelli misused substances and “yelled at her daily.”
She left with two of their three children after a fight, and had been in Utah about three weeks when he came to pick her up, she said.
On his drive, they spoke on the phone multiple times, sometimes arguing about her taking the children and once about a “negative interaction” he had with a fast-food worker in Beaver.
The couple‘s children have since been placed in Division of Child and Family Services’ custody, police said.
In an obituary, Restelli — known by those closest to him as Matt — was remembered for his “deep love for the outdoors.” He enjoyed mountain biking, fishing and hiking — “often accompanied by his beloved children.”
“Matt’s adventurous spirit and his profound appreciation for the natural world were evident to all who knew him,” it read. “His commitment to his family was unparalleled, providing them with not just love, but the shared experience of adventure that brought them closer together.”
The obituary does not name his wife.
