MIDVALE, Utah, Oct. 31, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A man accused of stabbing his wife to death in front of their children and then cutting himself, apparently in an attempt at suicide, was released from the hospital Saturday and booked into the Salt Lake County jail.
John Weston Erickson, 41, has been charged with:
- Murder — Knowing and intentional, a first-degree felony
- Child Abuse — Inflict serious physical injury intentionally
On Wednesday, Unified Police Department patrol officers were summoned to 115 Settlement Circle in Midvale, on reports of a domestic violence incident, according to a probable cause statement filed in 3rd District court in Salt Lake County by a UPD officer.
When officers arrived, they found blood throughout the home. In the master bedroom, a woman was found deceased, and Erickson also was in the bedroom, with deep cuts to his forearms and neck, the document states.
Erickson told the officers he had cut himself “in efforts to die.”
Medical personnel arrived and pronounced the woman deceased. Erickson was transported to an area hospital for emergency care.
In a news conference Wednesday after the incident, police identified the deceased woman as Erickson’s wife, 41-year-old Utahna Halona.
According to the probable cause statement, she had numerous defensive wounds, as well as three large, very deep cuts on her neck, which most likely caused her death, the statement says.
“It was also learned that John’s children were home at the time of the incident and were witnesses to the altercation and killing of their mother,” the document says.
In the Wednesday news conference, officials described the children as a 7-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son. There names have not been released.
The charging document states that the daughter heard her mother scream during the incident and ran to the master bedroom, where she grabbed the knife blade in an effort to stop her father from hurting her mother.
The girl “sustained two severe lacerations to her fingers which will most likely require corrective surgery,” the document says.
On Saturday, John Erickson was released from the hospital and was taken to the Unified Police Department to be interviewed. According to the statement, he admitted to cutting his wife’s neck and trying to kill himself. Following the interview, he was booked into jail, where he is being held without bail.
Gephardt Daily will update this story as more information becomes available.
