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Craig
Roger GREGERSON
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Rape
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
July 16,
2006
Date of arrest: 8 days after
Date of birth: March
12, 1986
Victim profile: Destinity
Norton (female, 5)
Method of murder: Asphyxia due to
suffocation
Location: Salt
Lake City, Utah, USA
Status: Sentenced to life in prison without parole on December
4, 2006
Craig Roger Gregerson
(born c. 1986) is a Salt Lake City, Utah man convicted of the
kidnapping and murder of five-year-old Destiny Norton on July 16,
2006.
Biography
Gregerson grew up the seventh of eight children
in a Mormon family in Orem, Utah. According to his older brother
Spencer, Gregerson "just seemed like a lazy person", and Spencer
does not recall him graduating from high school.
He was previously employed by Radio Shack and a
number of temporary staffing agencies. He was convicted of assault
in December 2004 for punching his mother-in-law in the face, and
other domestic violence incidents with his wife Catherine have been
reported.
Norton murder
Gregerson resided in a duplex in downtown Salt
Lake City that shared a yard with the house that Destiny Norton and
her parents occupied along with a number of other people who were
acquainted with each other from the drum circle scene in downtown
Salt Lake City.
Norton was reported missing on July 16, 2006. The
case earned national press attention, and police launched an
investigation, and suspicion eventually focused on Gregerson.
Police search warrant affidavits revealed that
Gregerson consented to an FBI polygraph test on July 24, 2006, and
later signed a full confession, telling authorities he had been
keeping the girl’s body in his basement for eight days.
Gregerson reportedly told FBI agent Steve
Fillerup, the polygraph examiner, that he had been planning
Destiny’s abduction "for some time" and that he had "made written
plans" for the crime. Gregerson reportedly lured the girl into his
row house unit, where she “panicked and began to scream", then "went
limp" after he gagged her.
Gregerson carried the girl’s body into his
basement and sexually assaulted her. He kept the body in a plastic
container, and later purchased supplies to mask the odor coming from
the basement.
Gregerson was charged with kidnapping and
aggravated murder on July 27, 2006. Gregerson waived his rights to a
speedy trial, and later waived his rights to a preliminary hearing
which had originally been scheduled for October 3 and October 4,
2006.
In a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty, he
plead guilty to capital murder and child kidnapping on December 4,
and was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder,
and fifteen years to life for the kidnapping. The sentences will be
served consecutively.
Gregerson pleads guilty, gets
life for killing Destiny
By Ben
Winslow
Deseret
Morning News
Monday, Dec. 4, 2006
Destiny Norton's parents held
each other and sobbed as a judge meticulously
questioned Craig Roger Gregerson over the details of
his guilty plea.
"Do you feel you are guilty of
both the crimes you have been charged with?" 3rd
District Court Judge Robin Reese asked him.
"Yes, I do," Gregerson replied
softly.
Gregerson, 20, pleaded guilty to
aggravated murder and child kidnapping in the death
of Destiny Norton, a 5-year-old girl with green
streaks in her blond hair and a mischievous smile
full of silver-capped teeth.
Her backyard disappearance on
July 16 launched a massive eight-day search, which
ended when Salt Lake police discovered the little
girl's body inside a plastic storage bin in
Gregerson's basement — just two doors away from the
Norton home.
In a guilty-plea statement read
by his lawyer, Michael Peterson, Gregerson admitted
to killing Destiny: "I placed my hand over her mouth,
and she suffocated and died."
Gregerson admitted to luring
Destiny from her back yard into his apartment. When
she said she wanted to go home, Gregerson said he
restrained her. After she died, police said
Gregerson raped Destiny's body and then stuffed it
in a plastic storage bin in his basement.
He admitted to
killing her under questioning by an
FBI agent and even said he had
fantasized about kidnapping her in
the past.
Gregerson
apologizes
The plea deal
spares Gregerson the death penalty.
He was immediately sentenced Monday
to life in prison without the
possibility of parole for the murder,
and he received an additional 15
years to life in prison for
kidnapping the 5-year-old girl.
The deal was made
at the request of Destiny's family,
who prosecutors said did not want to
keep reliving the tragedy through
years of court proceedings.
"He's not going
to hurt anybody else. In the end,
he'll get what he deserves,"
Destiny's mother, Rachael Norton,
said outside of court. Her husband,
Ricky Norton, buried his face in her
shoulder while he sobbed quietly.
In a handwritten
letter to Destiny's family,
Gregerson offered an apology for the
murder.
"You have every
right to hate me, every right to
want me dead and every right to
never forgive me," Gregerson wrote.
"I take full responsibility for your
daughters (sic) death. But her death
was not the worst part, what I did
after she was dead was unexcusable,
sick, and disgusting. I hate myself
for what I did. I am in terrible
pain every day because your daughter
is dead by my actions. She should
still be with you. All I can say is
I'm sorry. The words are small but
they are so sincere. Sincerely,
Craig Gregerson."
Gregerson did not
speak during the sentencing portion
of his hearing. Instead, his defense
attorneys gave his letter to the
judge to be entered into the court
record.
'A monster'
In her remarks to
the judge, Rachael Norton remembered
her daughter.
"She was a good
kid with lots of dreams about life,"
Norton said, her voice trembling at
times. "She always wanted to do the
best at everything that she could.
She wanted to be a vet when she got
older. She told me one day that she
was going to buy me a house and her
dad a motorcycle."
As Norton spoke,
her husband cried. Tears streamed
down his face, and he shook under
the weight of his sobs. Destiny's
grandmother, Leslie Borchardt,
placed her hand on his shoulder.
Surrounding him were members of the
Nortons' extended "street family."
The Nortons grew
up on the streets, bringing
themselves up in the world. They
were living in a house near 700
South and 500 East with several
other members of their street family
when Destiny vanished. They put in
hundreds of hours searching for the
little girl.
Describing her
life since her daughter's death,
Rachael Norton called Gregerson a
"monster," saying she hated him for
what he has done to her family.
"That man took
everything from us when he took
her," she said. "She was what kept
me and my husband going all these
years."
Destiny's
grandmother could not bring herself
to speak at the sentencing. In a
statement read to the court by a
prosecutor, Borchardt lashed out at
Gregerson.
"That monster not
only murdered our little angel, he
has also murdered a big part of who
I am," she wrote.
Across the
courtroom, Gregerson's estranged
wife, Cadie, also cried as the
Norton family spoke. When the judge
handed down the sentence, she gasped
— so loudly that the Nortons turned
their heads to look across the aisle
at her.
"You'll be
incarcerated for life. You'll never
be released from prison," Reese told
Craig Gregerson.
As soon as the
hearing ended, Cadie Gregerson
bolted from the courtroom, covering
her face with a coat and sobbing
audibly.
'She was one
of ours'
After the hearing,
Salt Lake police detectives, FBI
agents and prosecutors who worked on
the case gathered in the rotunda of
the Matheson Courthouse.
"This was an
ordeal that tried us all," Salt Lake
District Attorney David Yocom told
reporters. "We all fell in love with
Destiny as if she was one of ours."
Some people who
participated in the massive eight-day
search effort felt that Gregerson
got off too easily.
"The world did
him a favor. There's never been a
better excuse for the death penalty
in this state than Gregerson," said
Shane Siwik, who helped organize the
search.
Rachael Norton
recently gave birth to the couple's
third child, whom they named "Faith
LeeAnn," based on a name that
Destiny suggested. The sentencing
came just a few days after what
would have been Destiny's sixth
birthday — Nov. 30. The Nortons
acknowledged that the timing weighed
on their minds.
"I'm just glad
that it's over with, so she can rest
in peace," the mother said, adding
that the family also wants to move
on with their lives.
"And take care of
our other kids," Ricky Norton said,
tugging at his wife's sleeve.
Destiny Norton One Year
Later
By Tori Richards
July 26, 2007
SALT LAKE CITY, UT (Crime Library) — This week marks one
year since a massive search effort for a young a girl came to a
tragic end when her body was found stuffed inside a plastic tub in a
neighbor's basement. Her loving parents have managed to eke out some
semblance of a life thanks to overwhelming support from the
community, friends and their church.
Rick and
Rachael Norton have moved away from the low-income downtown duplex
that held the horrific memories of daughter Destiny, 5, who
disappeared while playing in their side yard only to surface seven
days later in the filthy basement of a secretive neighbor.
Destiny was found on July 24, 2006, capping off a massive search
involving hundreds of volunteers who scoured every block of Utah's
capital city. Her killer, Craig Gregerson, 21, even aided in the
search and invited FBI agents into his home while the community
desperately held out hope that she was alive.
Last
December, Gregerson pleaded guilty to first degree murder and child
kidnapping in order to avoid the death penalty. He also admitted to
having sex with Destiny's corpse but wasn't charged with that
offense. Destiny was suffocated — squeezed to death — Gregerson
would later confess.
The Nortons now live in a
suburb of Salt Lake City, in a home they are buying thanks to a
flood of donations they received in the wake of their daughter's
disappearance. Their little girl who dreamed of being a veterinarian
and loved wearing pink would leave the lasting legacy of a better
way of life for her beloved parents and two sisters.
"They live in a really good neighborhood in a nice house," said
Jeannie Hill, Destiny's aunt. "Both of them seem to be holding up
pretty well. They still are considering moving out of state, but
right now they're pretty far outside of downtown."
It's a world away from the environment where Destiny grew up — a
squalid series of duplexes infested with termites and roaches,
housing people who could never afford a better way of life. Built in
the World War II era, the two-bedroom units look like they haven't
been renovated since then. Each has a basement that was used to
house a coal burning stove indicative of that time period.
The Nortons removed the stove and turned their basement into
brightly decorated room that Destiny could call her own. She shared
it with the younger sister she adored Trenaty, 2. And she eagerly
awaited the birth of another sibling, promising to help her mother
care for the baby. One month after Destiny's death, Rachael gave
birth to a girl, Faith Leann, a name selected by Destiny.
Rick and Rachael dote on the girl, but both of them have gone back
to work. They have new jobs with the Mormon Church, which also
counseled them through the aftermath of the horrific crisis, Hill
said.
Of the two, Rachael has remained the solid
rock while Rick was inconsolable at times because Destiny was a "daddy's
girl." During the search, she was the one who met with volunteers
and aided the police, Rick too distraught to function.
The family has managed to go on.
"We're doing OK
so far," Rachael said in an interview with a local newspaper, the
Desert Morning News. "We have our moments when we just kind of lock
ourselves in our bedroom and tell everyone to leave us alone."
Destiny was found on Pioneer Day, a state holiday that she loved
because it includes fireworks in a park. The day would be a
celebration of finding Destiny, not losing her, Rachael told the
newspaper.
In May, Rachael attended the Salt Lake
City Police Department's annual awards banquet. Each officer in the
department received a pink medal in honor of Destiny to be worn on
their uniforms. Rachael received her own award, a Distinguished
Service Citation. Approximately 70 police officers and FBI agents
were out in the community, searching for Destiny. Everyone held out
hope until the end that she was alive. A tipster even called police
to report seeing a blonde child with a bottom row of silver capped
teeth, just like Destiny. The girl was sitting in a truck in a gas
station and touched off a flurry of excitement as searchers looked
for that truck.
It was never found, but Destiny
was. A day later, Gregerson confessed after failing a polygraph and
gave police directions on where to find the body.
Suzanne Burkhalter, the mother-in-law of Destiny's killer, says she
thinks about the Nortons often but is at a loss of what she would
say to them if they met.
"What can you say to
somebody that doesn't sound hollow?" Burkhalter said. "That her
sixth birthday came and went without her and she missed the birth of
the little sister she was so excited about? I can't even imagine.
"I just hope for their sake, that people are allowing them to get on
with their lives. To me, it a blessing that Craig was caught and
thrown in jail for the rest of his life," she said.
CrimeLibrary.com
Craig Roger Gregerson's
letter to Thomas Loudamy
October 19th
2006
Thanks for writing me, I would never think
anyone would actually want to write me as I've been wanting a pen
pal all my life but I just never knew how to go about finding one.
And the last thing I'd expect, if I ever did get a pen pal, was that
it would be a girl.
Anyway, because it takes about
2 weeks to get letters from you, and I'm close to being sent to
prison so it would be best if we started correspondence when I get
out there. You can probably get one or two letters off, but because
of the 2 week delay it's best to just bet on one. Basically after
this letter reaches you, you could probably get one letter to me
shortly before I get sent to prison. Then once I'm there we can
write and not have to worry about if I'm going to get letters
confiscated or what not. I had a couple letters I sent out that were
confiscated, along with some letters I received, that's why I say
that.
With that now said we can move on to the
heart of the matter, getting to know each other. I'm not too good at
this part so bear with me as I have never started a conversation in
my life. When I have it wasn't too pretty...They fell asleep by the
time I had something to say.
Well, I don't know
what you know about me. So I'll just give the basics and you can
fill me in with what you do know so I'm not repeating myself later
on.
I'm doing well, not the best I could be, but
well enough to get by. I got moved upstairs to Health Services and I
hate it up here, that's why I'm not doing much better than "well".
The reason for the move was because they think I'm suicidal, even
despite them knowing I'm not, they still insist on me being up here.
They being the mental health doctors. But it's awful up here. The
showers are, and probably have never been cleaned, my room smells
like a bag full of underwear and socks that were worn for a month
and never washed, and it's always hot. Not to mention the guards and
their attitudes. To put it simply, they are very strict compared to
the lax guards of downstairs. That's why it's awful, need I say
more? So just put my SO#(285372) and my name and the letter will
reach me no matter where I'm at as I may get moved fairly soon.
Otherwise mail gets delayed 2 days more than it should.
So that's my situation, now a little about me. I'm a Utah native,
born and raised in Orem and haven't seen much of the country except
some parts of Texas and the Grand Canyon. Although I dropped out of
school in 10th grade, on many levels I am actually much higher in
intelligence than those who have a high school diploma. I am now
working on improving my math skills so I can then work on getting me
GED and as high of a college education as I can while in prison. As
of right now, for passing time, I do Sudoku puzzles and read. (I
read what seems to be popular among the prisoners). But once in
prison I plan to study and learn many languages and subjects. As far
as things I want to go into, well I haven't really thought about it
but among the things I want to learn are Astronomy, Physics,
Engineering, Psychology, and a number of math areas.
Among the languages included if I can learn them, Arabic, Chinese,
Spanish, and Russian. But all of it depends on what tools are
available for those subjects. And if you know of any good books let
me know so I can see if this place carries them as I'm not hearing
as many books to be read among the other prisoners lately. That's
all I can think of for now. If you have any questions for me, I'll
answer any of them except when it comes to my case...I don't like
what happened and hate talking about it.
So enough
about me, what's going on with you? How did you find my name and
stuff, and why me? I'm sure you've seen my picture, but try sending
a picture of you again, now that you know what's allowed and what's
not...I'm very curious as to what you look like. I've never written
or talked to anyone who's face I haven't seen so it's very weird not
knowing, you know? Let's see what else... What do you do for a
living? How old are you? You married or in a relationship? If so,
have any kids? What's your life been like? Where are you from
originally? Watch any sports? What do you do in your free time? Have
you been to any other states? —sorry for all the questions I'm just
thinking of stuff I'm curious about. But I don't want to be too
intrusive so I'll end it now....besides mail will be sent out soon
and I want to get it out before too long. So I look forward to
hearing from you and hope this letter reaches you.
