Two teens arrested in mother's stabbing at rental vacation home in Utah
Two teens arrested in mother's stabbing at rental vacation home in Utah
Two teenagers have been charged with murder in the death of a woman − a mother of one of the teens − who was vacationing in southern Utah last month.
The two teenagers, ages 16 and 17, have been charged with the first-degree murder of 47-year-old Andreea Mottram on March 23, the Washington City Police Department shared on Friday, April 4. The teenagers are also facing charges of second-degree obstruction of justice and motor vehicle theft. They will be charged as adults.
On the morning of March 23, police responded to a call from cleaners at a VRBO rental home in Washington City, Utah about the presence of a dead body. Washington City is about 124 miles northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Upon arriving to the home, police discovered Mottram's body, stabbed 14 times, according to court documents. She had been in the rental home for three days before she was killed.
'I did it': Texas teen charged with murder in track meet stabbing cites self-defense
World news: Dozens of hippos found dead at national park in Africa due to anthrax poisoning
Police believe the teens and Mottram were the sole occupants of the rental home, and during their search, police determined there were no signs of forced entry.
In the rental home, police found two cell phones and a purse linked to the teens. They also found a knife in the sink that had been washed off. However, traces of blood were found on the knife, court documents state. A pair of balled up pants with blood stains were also found inside the home.
After the killing, police said the teens stole a rented Hyundai Kona under Mottram's name and fled Washington City.
USA TODAY is not naming the teenagers because they are minors. Information on their legal representation was not immediately available.
The teens are believed to be romantic partners, as outlined by court documents.
A man identified as "Frank" in court documents told police the 16-year-old had a history of violent behavior and self-harm. In November 2024 he had found a diary written by the teen that indicated "how much she hated her mother and wrote that she wanted to kill her," court documents state.
The teens had both been in residential treatment facilities, which provide health care for individuals with substance abuse disorders, mental illness or other behavior problems, according to court documents. The 16-year-old had been in a facility for three years. The 17-year-old was in a facility for one year before recently being removed by parents, court documents said. It is unclear if the two teenagers were at the same residential treatment facility.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
'Call Her Daddy' host Alex Cooper recalls 'psychotic game' of sexual harassment
'Call Her Daddy' host Alex Cooper recalls 'psychotic game' of sexual harassment Show Caption Hide Caption Need a show to binge? These are the must watch shows this summer USA TODAY's TV critic Kelly Lawler breaks down the best TV shows you don't to want to miss this summer Alex Cooper, celebrated for her let's-go-there honesty on her chart-topping podcast "Call Her Daddy," is pulling back the curtain even further. The two-part Hulu docuseries 'Call Her Alex' (streaming June 10) captures the relentless drive that led Cooper, 30, to land a lucrative SiriusXM deal (reportedly worth up to $125 million). But it also reveals the low points of her life. Growing up, boys taunted Cooper, a natural redhead. Cruel kids made fun of her hair and thin frame. 'You're disgusting,' she says they taunted her. 'No one wants to touch you.' 'I hated myself,' Cooper adds. School 'was such hell,' but at home she poured her creativity into skits that she starred in, filmed and edited. Cooper started "Call Her Daddy" in 2018 with her then-roommate Sofia Franklyn, who left the podcast in 2020. 'People genuinely believed we were like sisters," Cooper said. "But our relationship was so awful.' Cooper also addresses a subject she rarely has: Claims of being sexually harassed by Boston University soccer coach Nancy Feldman as a member of the team in college. Boston University has not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. Feldman could not be reached, and the documentary, directed by Ry Russo-Young, did not include a statement from the university or its former coach. No charges were ever filed. Alex Cooper remembers Boston University soccer coach Nancy Feldman 'really starting to fixate on me' Cooper, who loved playing soccer, was on the collegiate team at Boston University. She says she attended the school on a full scholarship to play for Feldman. Cooper says during her sophomore year, she noticed Feldman 'really starting to fixate on me, way more than any other teammate of mine. And it was confusing,' Cooper says, as 'it was all based in her wanting to know who I was dating, her making comments about my body and her always wanting to be alone with me.' Feldman would comment on her legs, Cooper says in the docuseries, and would put her hand on her thigh. Cooper says that once, Feldman found out she had been brought to campus by someone she was seeing. The coach asked her during a private meeting if she had had sex the previous night, and discouraged Cooper from sleeping off campus. 'I didn't know what to do,' Cooper says, 'and every time I tried to resist her, she would say there could be consequences, and there were.' 'It was this psychotic game of, 'You want to play? Tell me about your sex life,'' Cooper alleges. ''I have to drive you to your night class. Get in the car with me alone.'' Alex Cooper says sexual harassment claims were 'entirely dismissed' without an investigation Cooper says she confided in her mother, Laurie Cooper, who took notes on their conversations about the coach's behavior. Laurie, interviewed for the docuseries, says lawyers identified Feldman's behavior as sexual harassment. Alex Cooper says she and her parents met with the dean of athletics, whom her parents told that Cooper had been sexually harassed by Feldman for three years on campus. Cooper says she was then asked by staff, 'What do you want?' They wouldn't even look at Laurie's collection of Cooper's complaints. Cooper says the university refused to fire Feldman, but told Cooper she could keep her scholarship. There was 'no investigation,' Cooper says. 'Within five minutes, they had entirely dismissed everything I had been through. I got into the car with my parents and when the door shut, I immediately broke down and I just started sobbing.' (Feldman retired from BU in 2022.) Cooper returned to Boston University for the first time for 'Call Her Alex.' She said she cried as she looked at the field and reflected on what had been stripped from her. 'When I look back at that time in my life, I was scared, hopeless,' Cooper says. 'I had no resources and no options, and the minute I left that campus I was so determined to find a way where no one could ever silence me again.'
USA Today
16 hours ago
- USA Today
Protests break out in LA over ICE detentions. See photos.
Protests break out in LA over ICE detentions. See photos. Show Caption Hide Caption Trump orders troops to LA as agents, protesters clash over immigration President Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to combat violent protesters opposed to immigration enforcement. National Guard troops were on the ground in Los Angeles following weekend protests in opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration policies that saw clashes between demonstrators and police officers in riot gear. Marines at Camp Pendleton were "on high alert," according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who warned the Pentagon was ready to mobilize troops if "violence continues" in the city. On the social media platform X, California Gov. Gavin Newsom called Hegseth's threat to deploy active troops on American citizens "deranged behavior." The Secretary of Defense is now threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens. This is deranged behavior. — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 8, 2025 In a June 8 social media post Trump said, "These Radical Left protests, by instigators and often paid troublemakers, will NOT BE TOLERATED." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump signed a memo a day earlier deploying the guardsmen 'to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.' In an earlier post, Newsome accused Trump of deploying the National Guard "not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle." "Don't give them one," added Newsom. "Never use violence. Speak out peacefully." Photos of the protests show protestors carrying Mexican flags, being arrested by police or having milk poured into their eyes after getting caught in chemical agents fired by law enforcement. The protests came after the Department of Homeland Security said it arrested 118 people accused of being undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles. Contributing: Bart Jansen; USA TODAY Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. Connect with her on LinkedIn, X, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or email her at jgomez@
USA Today
18 hours ago
- USA Today
Jared Leto denies allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls
Jared Leto denies allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls Jared Leto is denying allegations of inappropriate behavior with young women. In a report published by Air Mail on Saturday, June 7, multiple women alleged that the "Suicide Squad" actor, 53, behaved inappropriately with them when they were teenagers. A representative for Leto told Air Mail that "all of the allegations are expressly denied." The representative also denied an earlier allegation from Allie Teilz, a DJ who posted last month in a since-expired Instagram Story that she was "assaulted and traumatized" by Leto when she was 17, according to Air Mail. In a 2012 Facebook status update that she reposted on Instagram, Teilz wrote, "Youre (sic) not really in L.A. until Jared Leto tries to force himself on you backstage ... In a kilt .. And a snow hat." The representative said that "Ms. Teilz's allegations are demonstrably false." USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Leto for further comment. One woman, model Laura La Rue, told Air Mail that in 2008, the actor approached her at a benefit in California and asked her how old she was. When she said she was 16, La Rue alleged Leto, then 36, still asked for her number. She said she was living in Ojai, California, at the time but that they began emailing and that she eventually went to visit him in Los Angeles in 2009. "I remember him teasing me the whole time I was there," she said. "He was flirting with me. He'd lean in close, then pull away, like it was a game." La Rue said she continued visiting Leto sporadically and claimed that on one occasion, when she was 17, he walked out of a room completely nude. A representative for Leto told Air Mail that the actor's communications with La Rue "contain nothing sexual or inappropriate," adding that "Ms. La Rue later applied to work as Mr. Leto's personal assistant, further underscoring the absence of anything inappropriate in any of their interactions." La Rue told Air Mail she did not apply to work as Leto's personal assistant. An unidentified model and music producer told Air Mail that in 2006, when she was 16, Leto grabbed her arm while she was on her way to the bathroom at a café and got her number. Days later, the actor, who would have been in his 30s at the time, allegedly called her home in the middle of the night and invited her to a party at his house, which she declined. But the woman alleged Leto continued to call her over the next three weeks, "always at one, two, three a.m.," and that the "conversations turned sexual," with the actor asking inappropriate questions about her past sexual experiences. The woman said she was shaken by Leto's behavior, and her mother, who said she overheard one of the phone calls, vouched for her daughter's account to Air Mail. "He changed − his voice, the way he talked. It scared me," the woman told Air Mail. Another woman claimed she began a texting relationship with Leto when she was underage. She said things could turn uncomfortable when she visited his home, with the actor asking her sexual questions. In an alleged encounter when she was 18, the woman claimed Leto "suddenly pulled his penis out and started masturbating," then "walked over, grabbed my hand, and put it on him." Leto's representative denied her allegations. Leto, who won the best supporting actor Oscar in 2014 for "Dallas Buyers Club," has starred in films like "Morbius" and "House of Gucci" and is the frontman of the band Thirty Seconds to Mars. He also stars in Disney's upcoming "Tron" sequel, "Tron: Ares," set for release in October.
