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BALLARD, Uintah County — A Roosevelt man arrested for a parole violation following the beating and stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend in Ballard was charged Monday with killing the man.
Brandin Lynn Reynolds, 42, is charged in 8th District Court with murder, a first-degree felony; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and two counts of being a restricted person in possession of a weapon, a third-degree felony.
About 9 p.m. on Aug. 24, Uintah County sheriff's deputies responded to a disorderly conduct report near 2100 North and 1500 East in Ballard after a neighbor "heard loud noises coming from the neighbor's yard and also listened to what he thought were punching sounds," according to a police booking affidavit.
Deputies arrived to find Owen Shuck, 44, "unresponsive with multiple stab wounds" and a "blunt force injury to the head described by witnesses as a dent in the skull," according to deputies. He was taken to two hospitals and later died "due to blunt force injuries."
Shuck's girlfriend told investigators about her ex-boyfriend, Reynolds.
"She advised deputies that Brandin had delivered her a package earlier in the evening to her place of employment and she again told him she no longer wanted to see or talk to him," the affidavit states.
Because Reynolds was on parole at the time and is a registered sex offender in Utah, deputies were able to look up his registered vehicle and found it matched the description of the vehicle seen leaving Shuck's residence, according to the affidavit.
Deputies found Reynolds at his home in Roosevelt the next day. He claimed he was with a family member all night. However, a detective reported noticing what appeared to be blood spots on his shoe and inside his vehicle. He was booked into jail on a parole violation as the homicide investigation continued.
During their investigation, detectives collected blood samples from Reynolds' vehicle, articles of clothing and two kitchen knives. While in Vernal, police found what appeared to be bloody towels in a trash bin near a fitness center, according to the arrest report.
"Detectives were also able to locate surveillance footage of Brandin purchasing a bottle of bleach and paper towels from a 7-Eleven in Vernal before showering at the fitness center," the affidavit states. "Detectives also located messages Brandin sent to an acquaintance on Aug. 24 … the day of the murder: 'I not doing so good I haven't been doing good in a long time and I just need to get that damn (Owen) out of the way.'"
According to charging documents filed Monday, Reynolds "caused the death of (Shush) by inflicting blunt force trauma on him by means of a bat and a knife. (He) attempted to destroy or conceal the knife and the bat by getting rid of it in a dumpster in another city."
In 2004, Reynolds was convicted of sex abuse of a child and attempted sex abuse of a child. He was sentenced to three years to life in prison and was granted parole in 2020. Two days after Shuck's death, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole issued a warrant for Reynolds' arrest for violating the conditions of his parole.
