fbpx
Crime

Deaths of Newlywed Women Found Shot at Campsite Investigated

Kylen Shulte of Billings and Crystal Turner of Hot Springs, Arkansas were found dead at a southern Utah campsite

By Associated Press

MOAB, Utah — Two newly married women found dead at a southern Utah campsite were remembered Sunday with a candlelight vigil as police investigate the slayings.

Crystal Turner and Kylen Shulte were discovered shot to death at a campsite near Moab, a desert town that draws tourists from around the world to its sweeping red-rock vistas.

Investigators believe someone killed the women and fled the area, KUTV reported. No firearms have yet been recovered. “We do think it was an outside party,” Grand County Sheriff Steven White said.

The sheriff’s office has also said there’s no further danger to the public. But that leaves unanswered questions for locals now nervous to be alone.

“Until they can give us more than that, we are not safe,” said friend Cindy Sue Hunter. She said she called police after the women didn’t return from their campsite in early August.

Schulte’s aunt Bridget Calvert previously said the couple told friends that a “creepy guy” was making them uncomfortable in the days prior to their deaths.

Shulte, 24, was from Billings, Montana. Her brother died in an accidental shooting in 2015, Calvert has said.

Shulte had more recently fallen in love with and married Turner, a 38-year-old Hot Springs, Arkansas, native. Both were remembered with flowers and candles at a vigil Sunday at Moonflower Community Cooperative in Moab. Hunter said the couple was beautiful inside and out.

“We just had an instant connection,” she said. “They were just very special people.”