Newlyweds told friends about 'creepy guy' at their campsite. Five days later, they were found dead.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Morning Mix

Newlyweds told friends about a ‘creepy guy’ at their Utah campsite. Five days later, they were found shot dead.

By Jessica Lipscomb
Today at 5:49 a.m. EDT

Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner went camping often. The newlyweds lived in a conversion van and routinely set up at campsites around Moab, Utah, where they both worked. When the weather was nice, the two women would pitch a tent and sleep outdoors.

But when Turner did not show up to her job at McDonald’s on Aug. 16, her co-workers grew concerned and called police. Two days later, the bodies of Schulte, 24, and Turner, 38, were found near their campsite in the La Sal Mountains. They had been shot dead.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Capt. Shan Hackwell of the Grand County Sheriff’s Office told reporters the investigation is ongoing. As of now, no suspect has been identified.

The sheriff’s office has said little more about the killings. One of the few public statements about the case — an Aug. 19 news release that said “there is no current danger to the public in the Grand County area” — has only raised more questions, leaving the mountain community near the Utah-Colorado border on edge.

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But across the state line in Colorado, the San Miguel County sheriff warned campers to be on high alert after authorities found a cache of more than 30 weapons at a man’s campsite near Telluride, about 2½ hours from Moab. The warning came four days after Utah officials said there was no threat to the public in regard to the unsolved killings.

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By Jessica Lipscomb
Jessica Lipscomb is the deputy editor of Morning Mix at The Washington Post. She previously worked for the Miami New Times and the Naples Daily News in Florida.

[Behind the Aegis]

1. This makes me so angry!

Let's see who bothers to get upset about this or who tries to downplay it.

HOMOPHOBIA KILLS!

[louslobbs]

3. Perhaps they meant that there is no threat to the heterosexual population?

n/t

[hlthe2b]

2. "It's hard to understand how they can say there's no threat and also acknowledge that it's a double

homicide" Indeed. Yet Colorado Sheriff across the border has warned about a massive weapons cache.

Hard to know what to think, but tragic, disturbing as hell, and baffling, in terms of what little is being released.

[SheltieLover]

4. This!👆

Well stated.

[bluedigger]

5. I heard about this on FB last night.

I live in Cortez, just south of Telluride. The local comments were all about recalling the judge that released the "weapons collector" on POR(?) two weeks earlier. That's the axe the sheriff is trying to grind, as there is no evidentiary link to the killings at this time. It was the first I'd heard of the murders at all. I guess they don't count for local news on their own, what with the LGBTQ info.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. San Miguel County Sheriff issues statement about a cache of weapons found off popular trail

FEATURED

‘Cautionary warning’

San Miguel County Sheriff issues statement about a cache of weapons found off popular trail

By Leslie Vreeland, Contributing Editor 12 hrs ago



The cache of weapons authorities found at the illegal camp of a squatter recently. (Photo courtesy of San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office)

It was a menacing-looking array: “Knives, hatchets, and a cross-bow and several swords,” as a statement from San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office put it on Facebook earlier this week, in a release that accompanied a photo of a stunning amount of weaponry.

“Sheriff Masters wants the citizens and visitors of our county to know of an armed man who has been illegally camping in the Telluride area,” the release began. “The individual has been arrested three times in the Norwood and Telluride areas since July 1 for charges, including weapons offenses, burglary of a local laundromat, possession of meth, trespassing and theft. The judge has repeatedly released this man on PR bonds over the objections of the District Attorney’s office. (Monday) more than three dozen weapons were found around his campsite in the Mill Creek area of Telluride … just yards off a popular trail. The campsite had been illegally constructed on private property. ‘In light of the past week’s double homicide of campers outside Moab, I want to caution people to be aware of their surroundings,’ Sheriff Masters said.’”

The double-homicide reference was to a pair of campers found shot in Utah’s La Sal Mountains, just a few hours from Telluride, last week. In an interview Thursday, Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Susan Lilly elaborated on the initial Facebook post. ... “The post has gotten upwards of 430,000 reaches,” Lilly said (meaning it has reached that many viewers). “It created an uproar.” ... The post was intended to raise awareness of an unusual situation in San Miguel County.

“We’re not trying to promote or encourage a sense of fear,” Lilly stressed. “We put it out there because there’s a pawn shop (full) of weapons in our backyard,” and there was “serious criminal activity” not that far away. ... Which raised a question: Were the killings in Utah, and the elaborate cache of weapons discovered in San Miguel County, linked to the same person? ... “No connection,” Masters said. The two cases “Are not connected in any way.”

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