Someone shot a a newlywed couple who had been out camping, say authorities in Grand County, Utah. Crystal Michelle Turner, 38, and Kylen Carrol Schulte, 24, were found dead Wednesday, deputies announced. The women are reportedly locals from the city of Moab.
They were in the South Mesa area of the La Sal Loop Road in Grand County, authorities said.
Schulte’s friend Cindy Sue Hunter told KTVX she found the bodies, saying that Schulte’s father from Montana called after the women had not been heard from in three days.
“He said, ‘I just found out that there was a creeper dude that they were scared of. That they needed to move their camp,'” said Hunter. “All of a sudden I had such a sense of urgency.”
Hunter found their campsite, remaining on the phone with the father as she continued to look, she said.
“Then I saw her body and I turned away,” she said. “I think something inside me didn’t want to acknowledge what I had seen so I was looking at the beauty of the creek and everything and talking to the father the whole time, and I turned around again to make myself see and it was her.”
Hunter was a customer at the food cooperative Schulte worked, which is how they met each other.
“They were good people,” she said. “They were wonderful people, and I loved them, and my heart is broken, and I’m struggling. I don’t know how to navigate through this.”
MORE: Sheriff Steven White tells us his investigators do NOT believe this was a murder/suicide. They are trying to figure out who killed them. @KUTV2News
— Jeremy Harris (@JeremyHarrisTV) August 20, 2021
“Her having such a beautiful soul, to see it complimented with someone like Crystal,” said Schulte’s aunt Bridget Calvert, according to KSTU. “That they could really enjoy life and do it together.”
Schulte’s family plans on burying her by her 15-year-old brother Mackeon Daniel Schulte, who they say was shot and killed by a friend in 2015. Their GoFundMe campaign to pay for the funeral raised $29,331 of a $15,000 goal as of Sunday night.
Grand County Sheriff Steven White said that investigators have not found firearms in the area, according to KUTV report from Thursday.
“We do think it was an outside party,” he said. “There has not been any firearms recovered from that area at this time.”
The investigation is ongoing.
“At this time the Grand County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an on-going homicide investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Facebook. “We are currently following up with any and all leads that come to our attention during this investigation and will continue to be available to people who come forward with information. The Grand County Sheriff’s Office believes there is no current danger to the public in the Grand County area.”
Deputies ask that anyone with information contact the sheriff’s office at (435) 259-8115.
[Screenshot via KUTV]
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