Former NFL hopeful sentenced in wife’s Park City stabbing death

Anthony McClanahan. Photo: Salt Lake County

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 29, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A former NFL hopeful has been sentenced for the 2017 stabbing death of his estranged wife in a Park City hotel.

Anthony McClanahan, 47, was given 15 years to life in prison for the death of 28-year-old Keri Colleen McClanahan.

McClanahan pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for additional charges being dropped. Those charges were related to use of a dangerous weapon and domestic violence against his victim.
Also dropped was a child kidnapping charge that alleged McClanahan took his son by a different woman from the custodial parent, in Arizona, prior to his arrival in Utah.
Keri Colleen “K.C.” McClanahan is believed to have died late on Nov. 1 or early on Nov. 2 of 2017. A probable cause statement says that at 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, McClanahan was seen crawling on his stomach near the street in front of the Park Regency Hotel.
He stood and waved down a passing Park City Police sergeant, “… then laid on his stomach again, this time convulsing and making a ‘snow angel’ motion with his arms,” the statement says.

“He then told Sgt. Lealaitafea that he, his wife and his baby were attacked by two or three men, but did not give his wife’s name or location, even when asked multiple times,” the statement says.

McClanahan was bleeding and had lacerations on his face, neck, wrist, arms and torso, and had blood on his bare feet, the statement says. He was transported to the hospital, where doctors determined the injuries to his neck were superficial.

A Park Regency guest, whose call came to 911 three minutes before McClanahan was spotted, told dispatchers that she saw a male matching his description “army crawling” through the corridors on the second and third floors of the condominium, calling for help.

Police found Unit 332 with the door ajar, and saw blood on the door and the carpet. They entered and found the victim, later identified as K.C. McClanahan. She was unresponsive and covered with blood, the statement says. Medical responders determined she was dead.

She had “multiple cuts to the front, back and sides of her neck, other defensive wounds, and carpet burns on her body,” the statement said. Officers found a paracord bracelet knife on the floor near the victim’s hands.

The Medical Examiner’s report said the evidence at the scene suggests that KC put up a significant struggle before her death.

“During the autopsy, the Medical Examiner found that the wounds on KC’s neck were consistent with the blade of the paracord knife,” the statement says. The cause of death was ruled a homicide. One manner of death was determined to be sharp-force injuries of the neck.

McClanahan was tried out in 1994 by the Dallas Cowboys, but was cut before he ever played for the team.

K.C. and McClanahan had been married less than 11 months at the time of her death.

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