#jerrod baum

Pictured left: Riley Powell, age 18 (2017) Picture right: Brelynne “Breezy” Otteson, age 17 (2017)

Riley and Breezy met during the fall of 2017 and became a couple shortly thereafter. According to their family and friends, the two were in a loving relationship that appeared to bring positivity to both of their lives. Things moved fast for the teens—early into their relationship, Breezy moved in with Riley at his father’s home in Eureka, Utah. During the winter of 2017, Riley and Breezy were spending the holidays together for the first time. The couple had been spending time in Tooele, located roughly an hour away from Eureka, to celebrate the holidays with Breezy’s family. They decided to head back to Eureka for New Year’s Eve, and on December 30th, 2017, they left Tooele around 9am. Unfortunately, Breezy and Riley never made it home that day, nor did they show up to the New Year’s celebration the following day. After 72 hours with no sign of the couple, they were reported missing to the Juab County’s Sheriff Department.

While investigating the disappearance of the two teens, authorities found Facebook messages between Riley and a 34 year-old woman named Morgan Henderson that were exchanged on the day the couple vanished. When investigators interviewed Morgan, she told them that Riley and Breezy stopped by her home in Mammoth on their way back to Eureka. By her account, the two came over for marijuana, and they stayed for about 40 minutes before leaving. Investigators had no reason to doubt Morgan’s story, and at that time, they were still unsure if foul play was involved in Breezy and Riley’s disappearance.

On January 11th, 2018, members of the Juab County search and rescue team found Riley’s Jeep at the Cherry Creek Reservoir, located 14 miles away from the couple’s home in Eureka. The car was hidden in the bushes with the two back windows rolled down, and the two front tires slashed and deflated. By that point, investigators began to think that foul play did, in fact, play a role in the couple’s disappearance. Investigators turned their attention towards a man named Lee Shepherd, who happened to be the live-in boyfriend of Riley’s mother, Mistie Carlson. A witness claimed to have seen Riley’s Jeep being towed by a truck that matched the description of Lee’s truck on the day of the couple’s disappearance. Additionally, investigators found a portion of tow strap at Lee and Mistie’s home that looked close in “appearance and configuration” to another portion of a tow strap that was found attached Riley’s Jeep. Mistie denied any involvement in the disappearance of Riley and Breezy, and also stated that she did not believe that Lee was involved either. However, Lee apparently refused to be interviewed by the police. Many found this suspicious, as it seemed that Lee was hiding something. He was never officially named as a suspect, but due to his lack of cooperation, many believed he was involved in Riley and Breezy’s disappearance.

That changed on March 25th, 2018, when Morgan Henderson once again came into contact with the police. Oddly enough, it was initially unrelated to the investigation: she was pulled over for a routine traffic stop in SanPete County that resulted in her being arrested and charged as a felon with possession of controlled substances and dangerous weapons. While in police custody, Morgan confessed that her boyfriend, 41 year-old Jerrod Baum, had killed Riley and Breezy on the day they were last seen. She also told investigators where they could find their bodies: at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft, located 22 miles away from where Riley’s Jeep was found.

When investigators asked why Jerrod had done this, Morgan said that Jerrod had warned her not to have male guests over without getting his approval first. On December 30th, Jerrod became irate when he discovered that she was hanging out with Riley and Breezy “without his permission.” Fueled by rage, Jerrod bound the victims' hands and feet, duct-taped their mouths, and placed them in the back of Riley's Jeep. Then, according to Morgan, Jerrod drove her and the two teens to the abandoned mineshaft, where the murders took place. Court documents containing Morgan’s official claim state the following: “Breezy was forced to kneel near the open mine pit and witness the beating of her boyfriend Riley Powell, and his stabbing, before she had her throat cut and was also thrown into the open mine.”

Brelynne ”Breezy” Otteson (17) and her boyfriend Riley Powell (18) disappeared in the early hours of December 30, 2017. Nearly three months later, their bodies were found in an abandoned mine in Utah. Police had suspected foul play was involved after finding the couple’s abandoned Jeep with its tires slashed on January 11, but the reality seems to be even more gruesome than they imagined.

Almost since the start, investigators were suspicious of another couple, Jerrod William Baum (41) and Morgan Henderson (34). Like Breezy and Riley, they lived in Eureka, Utah, and when going through the missing teens social media accounts, police found messages on Facebook that showed that on December 29, they were planning on visiting Morgan’s house. When first questioned, the woman claimed that indeed they had visited, but she hadn’t seen them after they left her house.

Now, she’s telling a different story.

On March 25, three days before the bodies were found, Morgan was arrested during a routine traffic stop, on unrelated charges. She then confessed to police what had allegedly happened on that December night.

According to Morgan, Breezy and Riley had visited her to smoke marijuana and then they had left. But shortly after, her boyfriend Jerrod had showed up, led her outside and showed her the terrified teens tied up and gagged in the back of their Jeep. Morgan says that Jerrod had warned her about not bringing male friends to the house, and apparently this was his way of teaching her a lesson.

The testimony continues by saying that Jerrod drove the teenagers’ Jeep to the abandoned mine. He first brutally beat and stabbed Riley, even through the groin (something that was confirmed with the autopsy reports). He’d made Breezy kneel and watch the murder of her boyfriend before he cut her throat and threw both of their bodies in the mine. Jerrod allegedly told Morgan that he’d made Riley suffer and kept Breezy’s death quick, and that it was “too bad because he’d never killed an innocent before.”