CLEARFIELD, Utah, Nov. 28, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Prosecutors have filed capital murder charges against a 26-year-old man accused of killing his grandparents in their Clearfield home.
Thomas Walker, 87, and Janice Walker, 85, were found dead Nov. 23 in the garage of their home at 681 N. 1050 West, police said.
Jeremy Dwayne Belt, the Walkers’ grandson, was arrested that same day in connection with their deaths. On Monday, Belt was charged with:
- Two counts of criminal homicide/aggravated murder, a capital offense
- Purchase, transfer, possession or use of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony
- Possession or use of a controlled substance, a class A misdemeanor
- Assault, a class B misdemeanor
- Criminal mischief, a class B misdemeanor
Charging Belt with a capital offense means prosecutors can seek the death penalty if he’s convicted.
Davis County prosecutors say Belt bludgeoned his grandparents with a hammer and then shot them with a rifle.
“Each of the victims had suffered trauma to their heads and it was later discovered that both of the victims had been shot in the head,” according to charging documents filed in Farmington’s 2nd District Court.
The bodies were found by the Walkers’ daughter, who had been living in the basement with Belt, her son, police said. The woman had an eye injury when she was interviewed by police, charges state.
“The mother advised that [Belt] had repeatedly made statements that his grandparents were trying to harm him, and that she believed [he] had been suffering from paranoia,” prosecutors said.
The woman said Belt “believed there were pin holes in his walls, and that people were looking at him through those pin holes,” charges state.
“Earlier in the day, he had repeated the claims that his grandparents were trying to harm him and told his mother that he could feel an electrical current in the room and asked her if she could feel it.”
Police say Belt became upset with his mother during that conversation and “kicked her in the face.”
The woman left the home and returned later that afternoon, charges state. When she opened the door to the home’s garage, she “saw her mother and father lying on the ground, then fled from the residence and asked a neighbor to call 911.”
Police found Belt inside the home and arrested him, charges state. He later told police he followed his grandparents into the garage and attacked them — kicking them and striking them with a hammer until “both of them were injured and fell to the ground,” according to charging documents.
“[Belt] further stated that he then retrieved the .22 rifle from inside the residence and returned to the garage, where he first shot his grandmother in the head. He went back into the residence to retrieve another round, which he then chambered into the rifle and fired into his grandfather’s head.”
Police say the couple went to leave the home following a confrontation with Belt, but he had disabled the garage door.
After obtaining a warrant to search the home, Clearfield City police found a “small mini sledgehammer on the stairs to the garage. They also located two spent .22 casings in the garage,” charges state.
Officers also found two rifles in the basement — a .22 and a 30-06, police said. The 30-06 was discovered in Belt’s room, where officers also found “multiple items of drug paraphernalia, as well as suspected psilocybin mushrooms and marijuana,” charges state.
Belt is being held without bail in the Davis County jail.
The Walkers were members of the Clearfield City Citizen’s Patrol, volunteering for more than a decade until 2019, police said.
I was So shocked when a picture was shown of the couple who were murdered because I knew Janice and would see her frequently and always say “HI” to her, She was very sweet and always smiling. We shared the same first name, which isn’t that common, and we’d kinda chuckle saying “HI Janice” to each other….
She was so sweet and kind….I ‘m just so saddened and horrified by this terrible thing that happened to them, just so senseless and tragic!
My Deepest and sincere sympathy and Love to their family
I have know Janice for many years. Such a kind and gentle spirit about her. Always sharing pictures of her grown kids and grandchildren, who she loved dearly. She was so proud of all of them. And Tom was always so sweet when he’d come to pick Janice up at the Hill Thrift shop where she volunteered. Such a senseless act perpetrated on great people. They both will be sorely missed. RIP