GRAND COUNTY, Utah, Dec. 29, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — The Grand County Sheriff‘s Office is closing the investigation of the double murder of married couple Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner south of Moab on Aug. 14, 2021.
As announced earlier, evidence points to Adam Pinkusiewicz as the shooter, investigators said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
Pinkusiewicz worked at the same McDonalds restaurant as Turner but during different shifts. He had been reprimanded for his aggression toward supervisors and left his job shortly after the shooting.
Pinkusiewicz then left the area, ultimately committing suicide on Sept. 24, 2021.
That was well before spring of this year, when Utah investigating the case were able to track Pinkusiewicz’s to his last known location. Before they learned of his suicide, they had hoped to question him as a person of interest in the shooting deaths of Turner, 38, and Schulte, 24.
Unified Police Detective Carrie Rigby summarized evidence, which included a sighting of a car like the one Pinkusiewicz drove at the time, a 2007 model Toyota Yaris hatchback, near the crime scene.
Campers also came forward with information about a man they encountered during the period, who was driving a Yaris. When the man overstayed his welcome at the campsite and the campers requested he leave, the man became aggressive and angry, the campers told police.
Rigby presented timelines, evidence, and information gained through interviews.
One such interview was with a man described as Pinkusiewicz’s estranged significant other, an Iowa man who said the suspect had been trying to re-establish their relationship.
When contacted, the man told officers Pinkusiewicz had admitted to killing two women, one of whom had worked at the Moab McDonald’s.
The man also knew the women had been shot while in their tent, a fact law enforcement had withheld from the public and from news reporters. When found by investigators, the bodies had been moved outside the tent.
Pinkusiewicz’s significant other was not in Utah at the time of the shooting, the investigation determined, so must have been told about the in-tent shooting by the shooter.
Cell phones that had been returned to Pinkusiewicz’s estranged family after his death revealed texts from before the murders, which were deleted, and then recovered. The writing contained angry and racist language and revealed Pinkusiewicz’s longtime desire to injure and kill people.
Rigby said the family had been very cooperative and forthcoming with investigators.
Evidence also showed Pinkusiewicz years earlier had purchased a gun similar to the one believed to have killed Turner and Schulte, judging from bullets recovered at their autopsies.
Rigby said no DNA tied Pinkusiewicz to the murder scene, which was discovered after it had rained. If additional evidence is discovered or DNA testing advances, investigators will take an additional look at the case, she said.
See the full police presentation of evidence in the link below.
