SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 23, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — A Salt Lake County man convicted of killing his brother’s girlfriend in West Valley City has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Justin Cade VanCleave was sentenced for the May 23, 2016 strangulation and knife murder of Amanda Rose Garcia, 33. She was stabbed more than 40 times, according to information revealed in court.
Heidi Buchi, attorney for VanCleave, said he was high on meth when the murder occurred.
In August of 2017, VanCleave pleaded guilty to first-degree felony murder in exchange for prosecutors dropping a charge of obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.
VanCleave, who court documents say is also known as Little Fat and Lil Fat, was 18 when he killed Garcia. Both were living in a house at 2960 S. Mountain Goat Way with VanCleave’s mother and three brothers.
Officers called to the scene on May 23, 2016 “… observed bloody drag marks on the steps and patio, leading from the house to the back yard,” the probable cause statement says. VanCleave “made efforts to conceal” Garcia’s body and evidence of the crime, including a knife and bloody clothing and towels, by putting them in a shed.
Three friends of VanCleave said that he had confessed to killing Garcia with a kitchen knife, showed them the body, and ” … asked them to help dispose of the body, but they refused,” charging documents say.
After being read his Miranda rights, the document said, VanCleave admitted to stabbing Garcia in the bathroom, cleaning the room, then placing the body in the shed, according to a probable cause statement. He also told officers where to find the knife and bloody clothing, the statement said.
