A 25-year-old man was charged Monday with murder, accused of killing two people in Magna last year.
Brandon Beau Warren was charged in 3rd District Court with the two counts of first-degree felony murder, along with 11 counts of felony discharge of a firearm. He is accused in the deaths of Stevan Ryan Chambers and Shelli Marie Brown.
Chambers was found dead in a roadway near 2880 South and 9100 West in Magna on Aug. 17, 2015. Brown's body was discovered two days later in a park about a half-mile from where Chambers' body was found. Both were 26.
Police have described the two victims as acquaintances who ran in the same circles, and said early on they believed the homicides were related.
Chambers had been shot four times — in the temple, jaw, neck and shoulder — while Brown had been shot three times in the head, nose and mouth, according to charging documents. Shell casings from a .380-caliber gun was found near both bodies, according to charging documents, and ballistics testing later found that the casings were all fired from the same gun.
Witnesses told police that the day before Chambers was found dead, he had been held in a garage and was "confronted by several people" about an allegation that he had given a woman intravenous drugs "in order to take sexual advantage of her," according to a search warrant affidavit.
After the confrontation, Chambers left with that woman and Warren, according to charging documents, and was later seen in front of the Magna Library, still arguing with the woman. She later reported to police that she told Warren "he should stand up for her."
After Brown's body was found at Magna Park on Aug. 19, 2015, police found two bags containing Brown's paycheck stub and a partially consumed Gatorade bottle. Both Warren and Brown's DNA were found on that bottle, according to charging documents.
Police were initially called to the Magna Park just after midnight on a report of gunfire, but they did not see any evidence of a crime. A witness, however, later told police that after he heard gunshots, he spotted a man emerging from a nearby field who was "breathing hard and concealing an item behind his back," charging documents say. The description the witness gave of the man matches Warren, according to police.
In addition to allegedly killing Brown and Chambers, Warren is also accused of firing a gun outside a Magna bar days before the two homicides.
An initial court date in the homicide cases had not been scheduled as of Monday afternoon.
Warren is currently at the Utah State Hospital, where he was ordered to be sent in March after being found incompetent to stand trial on four unrelated cases filed in the past two years, which include charges of car theft, criminal mischief, assault by a prisoner and possession of drug paraphernalia. Mental health examiners at that time found Warren suffered from bi-polar disorder with psychotic features, according to court documents.
A document filed with the court on Oct. 13 states that Warren claims there are no criminal charges against him and that "the judge is against him and that everyone on his legal team [are] terrorists." Warrant also "periodically ramble[s] on about bizarre ideas" and has "expressed delusional thoughts" to mental health examiners, the documents states.
But the document also states that mental health examiners believe there is a possibility that Warren is feigning mental illness, a possibility that needs to be ruled out.
A competency review hearing in the four older cases is set for next September. An initial appearance in the murder case is set for Nov. 7.
jmiller@sltrib.com
Twitter: @jm_miller
| Courtesy Shelli Brown, 26, was murdered and her body left in MagnaÕs Copper Park.
| Courtesy Shelli Brown, 26, was murdered and her body left in MagnaÕs Copper Park.
| Courtesy Shelli Brown, 26, was murdered and her body left in MagnaÕs Copper Park.
| Courtesy Stevan Ryan Chambers
