SALT LAKE CITY — A 15-year-old Riverton girl was beaten to death after fighting off a sexual assault and dumped into the Jordan River, according to court records.
One of two men held in Anne Kasprzak’s death says she “put up one hell of a fight” and “went swimming,” quoting from now-sealed search warrant affidavits.
He apparently didn’t elaborate. But the man’s mother said he never knew the girl and is wrongly accused.
Witnesses say 31-year-old Daniel Ferry was bloody when he returned to a party and discussed the attack a month ago. Police say the girl had extensive facial injuries and they had to use dental records to identify her.
The details came from search warrant affidavits filed in 3rd District Court — and then sealed late Tuesday when prosecutors learned they got out to news agencies.
“We don’t want to release anything,” Salt Lake County prosecutor Blake Nakamura said on Wednesday. He declined to give an update on the investigation.
At one point, Ferry turned to Kasprzak during a party and said, “It’s my turn,” according to court records.
When Kasprzak replied “no,” Ferry smashed her head in a wall, according to witnesses, who said Ferry and two other suspects left the party with the girl wrapped in a tarp.
Ferry and 30-year-old Veanuia Vehekite are being held at the Salt Lake County jail on suspicion of homicide. Nakamura wouldn’t say if investigators have identified a third suspect.
Ferry denies knowing the girl and says he wasn’t holding any party at his family’s house in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy, his mother, Loris Ferry said. He is happily married and doesn’t go many places without his wife, she said.
“It’s just the strangest thing,” Loris Ferry said Wednesday. “We don’t believe this girl was here. Not one of my kids knows who she was. We feel horrible, but we don’t know her. We’re just so confused to how this came about.”
Loris Ferry said she has eight children, with four of them living at home. She said she believes police targeted Daniel Ferry because of his lengthy criminal record.
“Unfortunately my son has made a name for himself. But just because something happens doesn’t mean a Ferry boy did it,” she said.
She added, “I heard a juvenile actually did this — that she (Kasprzak) was online with somebody, and they met down by that river.”
The girl was reported missing by her family March 10. Her body was found in the Jordan River the next day.
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