BLUFFDALE, Utah, June 27, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) – A Bluffdale woman falsely reported that her husband killed her, officials said.
A probable cause statement from the 3rd District Court of Salt lake County said Rebbecca Spring Nielson, 44, was arrested Tuesday and is facing charges of false emergency report — emergency involving injury and death, a third-degree felony; and criminal mischief, a class A misdemeanor.
The complainant called emergency dispatch Tuesday at 2:05 a.m. after she received text messages from a male friend of hers, the statement said. The text messages, from the male friend’s phone number, stated he had shot his wife and didn’t know what to do.
“The complainant asked if he was serious, in which she received more text messages from the friend’s phone confirming it wasn’t a joke,” the statement said. “The complainant continued to receive text messages informing the friend’s wife was dead and not breathing and it had occurred at the friends’s home in Bluffdale.
“When the complainant asked if she should call an ambulance, the complainant received a message from the friends’s phone number stating, ‘yes.'”
The complainant then called 911.
Several officers from the Saratoga Springs/Bluffdale Department responded along with several officers from the Herriman Police Department and Unified Police Department to the male friend’s residence in Bluffdale. Containment was set around the residence and announcements were made for the friend to exit the house.
During the attempts to contact the friend, Rebbecca Nielson walked up to officers at the scene, the statement said. Rebbecca is the man’s wife, who was believed to be the one the man had shot.
Officers contacted the husband at his residence. He stated his wife, Rebbecca, and him got into an argument around 10 p.m. Monday. The argument started because he, the husband, was talking to the complainant.
The wife took the husband’s phone away from him and left.
“A short time later, Rebbecca returns and another argument begins,” the statement said. “This time, Rebbecca picks up her husband’s work laptop computer and throws in on the ground, breaking the screen. The estimated damage is value at about $1,000.”
During an interview, Nielson admitted to taking her husband’s phone and sending text messages to the complainant, the statement said. Nielson stated her husband was cheating on her. First, Nielson confronted the complainant, but then later acted like she was her husband through text messages from his cell phone. Nielson, acting under the guise of being her husband, told the complainant she shot Nielson. The wife claimed she wanted to see how the complainant would respond, and wanted to see if the complainant would be compliant in covering up the crime. Nielson gave officers her husband’s cell phone she had in her possession.
The couple have been married for about 10 months and currently live together.
Nielson was transported to the Salt Lake County Jail with her bail set at $6,950.
