SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – An Arizona teenager was charged with aggravated murder Friday in the brutal slaying of a worker at a southern Utah ranch for troubled teens.
Clay Brewer, 17, attacked the man from behind with a weapon when he came to check on a group of teenagers sitting around a campfire on a frigid morning, police said.
The teen continued the Tuesday’s assault after Jimmy Woolsey, 61, fell to the ground, according to Garfield County Sheriff James Perkins. Brewer also beat a second staffer who came to help and took her car before he was arrested on the way to the tiny town of Escalante, about 300 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Prosecutors filed eight charges Friday that also include attempted aggravated murder and robbery in the attack. He was charged directly as an adult under Utah laws where serious cases bypass juvenile court.
The teen’s grandfather Coleman Brewer said by phone that the family is heartbroken by what happened. He said the family sent him to the Turn-About Ranch because of drug problems.