Death Penalty Being Sought Against Man Charged In Double Murder

Prosecutors have announced that they are seeking the death penalty for the man charged with murdering his mother and a man in their home in Utah County. Duchesne County has been the focus of the search for their bodies because phone data shows that the accused, 28-year-old Matthew Jacob Leonard, spent 16 hours in a remote area of Duchesne County in the aftermath of the crime. The bodies have not yet been found but there was enough evidence to proceed with the charges that include 2 counts of 1st Degree Felony Aggravated Murder, 2 counts of 2nd Degree Felony Obstruction of Justice, and 2 counts of 3rd Degree Felony Abuse or Desecration of a Dead Body, in the deaths of Leonard’s mother, Sarah Johnson, and 50-year-old John Waldron Handricks. According to court documents, bullets were found lodged into the drywall in the home and blood splatter led detectives to remove the baseboards and find separate pools of blood. Leonard had recently rented out the room that he told the renters had been his mother’s room.