Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Murdered Woman Found in Backseat During DUI Traffic Stop

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law & Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A woman's body found in the backseat of her boyfriend's car. Now he's charged with her murder. Just ahead, I'll tell you what police claim the boyfriend said. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy.

Starting point is 00:00:23 Summeroni's friends and family are mourning her death. She was just 30 years old, and on New Year's Eve, they learned that she had been murdered. Jake Johnson, her boyfriend, is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County Jail in Utah. He's being held on suspicion of murdering Summer. It's a terrible, terrible case. It's so sad. A probable cause statement lays out what police and Harriman say happened. On 12-31-2024, Harriman police received a call for an agency assist from Saratoga Springs Police regarding a DUI investigation where a deceased female was located inside the vehicle. Officers with the Bluffdale Police Department located a vehicle at the 7-11 at 15871 South Redwood Road, Bluffdale, Utah. On 12-31-2024, at approximately 10 after midnight,

Starting point is 00:01:14 contact was made by officers at this location. So it's just after midnight on New Year's Day, and police say they start talking to Jake Johnson. While contacting the driver, the female victim was observed in the rear of the vehicle. The driver was removed from the vehicle and detained. The victim had significant injuries and trauma that would be consistent with a homicide. Police took Jake Johnson, Summer's boyfriend, into custody and they took him to the police department. The probable cause statement continues. An interview with Johnson occurred post-Miranda. Johnson stated that his relationship with the victim as intimate partners currently living together in Harriman. Johnson stated he was in a previous argument with the victim, stating that it was over with their relationship. It's not clear when this argument took place, maybe earlier that evening. Now back to the probable cause statement.

Starting point is 00:02:06 When asked by officers if the victim had any injuries, Johnson stated physical trauma, but did not elaborate any further. When asked how the victim got into the vehicle, Johnson said he put her into the vehicle. Summer Roney's family released a statement to local TV stations. It reads, the family of Summer Tatiana Roni is heartbroken by her tragic and untimely loss. Summer was a vibrant, kind, and loving soul who touched the lives of everyone she met. She was deeply loved by her friends, family, and coworkers, who will always remember her infectious personality and the joy she brought into their lives. This senseless act

Starting point is 00:02:45 has left an unfillable void in our hearts. We ask for privacy during this difficult time as we grieve and remember the incredible person that Summer was. It's so incredibly sad and Summer's friends and family have been posting on Facebook. They're just stunned by her death. One friend wrote, I don't even have words right now. You brought sunshine to everyone you knew, hence your name. Summer Roney Tishner. You always knew how to make me laugh when I was having a bad day. You brought light to everyone that knew you. You were taken much too soon in such a horrific way. It's hard to process. Another one of Summer's friends posted, Oh, Summer, I can't stop going back to our funny

Starting point is 00:03:26 old days. You would always let me borrow your hoodie. You're so good like that. I have such a fun time hanging out with you. You always make me laugh when I'm sad. You always give me advice. And I have to say, you kept me out of trouble so many times. We have so many memories together. I want to tell everyone about you. You're a sweet soul, so funny, and you always know how to make people laugh around you. Rest in peace, my beautiful friend. It's crazy that you are gone, but I promise I will finish the drawing

Starting point is 00:03:54 you wanted me to do, the one with the lion and the flower for your tattoo. And Summer's sister posted, I'll fight for you even when you're on the other side. I sure could use one of your long hugs right now. I want to for you even when you're on the other side. I sure could use one of your long hugs right now. I want to tell you about Upside. It's a free app that gets you cash back on things like gas, groceries, and restaurants. This is real cash back. It's money that appears in your Upside app that you can transfer straight into your bank account. I used Upside when I went to

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Starting point is 00:04:51 I wanna bring in Natalie Whittingham Burrell. She is a public defender and a legal commentator. So Natalie, the facts in this case are just so sad. I just can't even imagine the family of Summer Roney learning on New Year's Eve or New Year's morning that their loved one had been found murdered and she's being driven around in a vehicle. And Jeanette, it's really quite heartbreaking to see a case of this nature and the shocking reality that had the gentleman not been pulled over for maybe a DUI related incident, she might not have been found. Her family might not have known what happened to her. It's absolutely heartbreaking. Yeah, it is really, really heartbreaking.

Starting point is 00:05:37 And according to the probable cause statement, you know, in Utah, he's not formally charged with murder right now. He's being held without bail on suspicion of murder. We believe charges will come sometime soon. But it says that he did make a statement post Miranda talking about how it sounded like there had been an argument and that she had said that their relationship was was over, essentially. And we know, too, that sometimes that can be a very dangerous time for a woman to try to leave. It's dangerous when women try to end relationships at times, depending on their partner. Yes, statistically, we do see that that is one of the highest rates of mortality in relationships that involve domestic violence when the woman is trying to leave or, sadly enough, when the woman is pregnant. But also his post-Miranda statement that he made certainly would be incriminating and give officers probable cause to charge him with homicide or assault that led to her homicide. In conjunction with the fact that she had visible

Starting point is 00:06:45 injuries that the officers could see. He admitted, you know, to having an argument with her, which could be a motive to precipitate some type of physical assault. So Jake Johnson, according to police, makes these statements post Miranda. He's been told, you know, he's been read his rights. They believe he's under the influence of some type of alcohol or something. You know, as a defense attorney, as a public defender, somebody who deals with these types of cases, I mean, what do you do with a case like this? I mean, he, he's driving around with his girlfriend's dead body in the vehicle. She's got trauma. He admits that she

Starting point is 00:07:28 has suffered physical trauma. And I mean, it seems all very, very, very damning. I mean, if he hadn't been pulled over, maybe he would have placed her body somewhere. We just don't know. Yes. Every state is different, but many states do recognize a defense of voluntary intoxication in the case of homicides. I'm not sure if they have that in this state, but it could certainly mitigate an intent. So we still have to remember that law enforcement, the prosecution does have to prove that he caused her death, that he intended to cause her death. So, for example, if he became so intoxicated that he didn't realize what he was doing and didn't actually have the intent to kill her and accidentally killed her, that could lower it from, say, a first-degree or second-degree murder to a manslaughter, depending on your state.

Starting point is 00:08:20 In addition, as a defense attorney, I would be looking at that statement to see whether or not I can suppress it, because even though he was read his Miranda warnings, he was intoxicated. That's the reason for him being pulled over. And maybe it wasn't a voluntary and knowing waiver of his right to remain silent and his right to have an attorney. Those are rarely won on those grounds, but it's worth fighting for. So there are some strategies here for his defense counsel. And he is, of course, in custody right now. That will come later in the proceedings, you know, a motion to suppress, of course. And it sounds like they believe they had probable cause to pull him over as well, or at least to approach him.

Starting point is 00:09:04 So, you know, those are all things that will obviously come down the road. But just the, I mean, you're an attorney, and that's going to be, of course, something you do. You're going to try to get the statement thrown out. But what do you do as far as challenging possibly the traffic stop itself or the approach? I guess maybe, maybe hopefully there's maybe some body camera footage or something like that. There's going to be surveillance footage maybe from the gas station, the 7-Eleven. I guess you could try to challenge that as well. Right. Because as you're pointing to, Anjanette, police don't have the right to just randomly pull people over, you know, unless

Starting point is 00:09:42 we're talking about maybe like a DUI checkpoint or something in certain places. And so if the body-worn camera or dash camera, usually dash camera before the stop or surrounding surveillance doesn't show a reasonable articulable suspicion that he is driving under the influence, say the car is driving straight, it's not swerving, he doesn't appear to be speeding or anything like that, if there was no reason for the initial stop, then you could challenge them even finding her body inside the car if they did not have a right to stop him. But it sounds like because he was so verbose and willing to speak to law enforcement and the surrounding

Starting point is 00:10:25 circumstances, there must have been something to give them some type of suspicion that he was driving under the influence. And it's not a very high bar to cross. It's one of the lowest standards that we have in court. Yeah, probable cause, a very, very low standard. You know, it sounds like they discovered Summer's body rather quickly. We don't know when this argument took place. I mean, we can only maybe assume that it took place sometime on New Year's Eve. You know, this happened, this traffic stopped just after midnight. So as far as determining her cause of death and things like that, I mean, it's not like she was reported missing or anything like that. This is going to be something that they can probably determine quite quickly through autopsy and things of that nature.

Starting point is 00:11:16 Exactly. And because they're saying signs of injury, I'm just speculating here. They would normally say for gunshots, gunshot wounds, sharp force trauma. They would say apparent stab wounds. Normally, that's what they would say to the media. But because they're saying signs of injury, it's potentially blunt force trauma, which would necessitate a autopsy to see whether or not that was the cause of death. And if it is blunt force trauma, that would be more consistent with a domestic violence, intimate partner violence situation where someone is beaten and then they die as a result of it. Yeah. And I think you're probably right on target there because there were some posts on Facebook that alluded to him being so much larger than she was.

Starting point is 00:12:05 Some family friends had said that he was such a big guy and twice her size, and it made reference to her possibly being beaten. So it's just a really tragic case. Extremely sad and, you know, heart-wrenching because it's really not something that you can guard against. It depends on the partner that is the more powerful partner to be respectful and well and not harm their partner because it seems like she did the right thing here. She's trying to leave the relationship. Right. She's not staying for abuse and he won't allow her to leave, allegedly, according to the facts we've heard so far. So that is extremely sad and probably very heart-wrenching for the parents and the family members. It's absolutely tragic. And our hearts go out to this family of Summer

Starting point is 00:12:57 Roney. Natalie Wildingham Burrell, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it as always. Thank you so much, Anjanette. Have a good one. You too. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Le. Thank you so much, Anjanette. Have a good one. You too. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Murdered Woman Found in Backseat During DUI Traffic Stop

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Murdered Woman Found in Backseat During DUI Traffic Stop

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