HEBER CITY — Wasatch County sheriff’s deputies arrested a man Monday who they say shot and killed a man in a road rage incident at Jordanelle State Park in September.
But Greg Kyle DeBoer, 62, of Heber City, was booked into the Wasatch County Jail for investigation of obstructing justice and not for the shooting death.
On Sept. 26, Patrick L. Hayes, 61, of Hideout, Wasatch County, was found dead outside a car on the shoulder of a roadway near the entrance of the park by the Ross Creek gatehouse. Police said the car had been sitting there for hours with the blinker on before it was reported.
Camera footage from the gatehouse shows a Jeep Gladiator pulling up behind Hayes and Hayes exiting his vehicle after 11 p.m. on Sept. 25. He was standing near the passenger side of the Jeep when he was shot, according to a police booking affidavit. The driver of the Jeep then drove away.
No emergency calls were made reporting the shooting until Hayes’ body was discovered by someone passing by the area after 11 a.m. the next day, deputies said.
A medical examiner recovered a single .45 caliber Winchester Black Talon bullet from Hayes’ body — “a bullet that has been out of production for at least 20 years and is therefore uncommon,” the affidavit states. Investigators said they later learned DeBoer owns a Kimber 1911 handgun that he frequently carries and loads with the same ammunition.
More than two weeks after the shooting, DeBoer was questioned about it. “Greg Deboer admitted to shooting Patrick Hayes during a road-rage incident but claimed he acted in self-defense,” the affidavit alleges, adding that DeBoer “admitted to burying the gun near his house sometime after the shooting.”
In late November, the sheriff’s office confirmed that it was investigating whether Hayes was actually the aggressor. “We are fully investigating this matter for all possible crimes, including homicide, and considering all defenses, including self-defense,” the office said.
Deputies earlier said Hayes approached the Jeep with a metal baton and pocket knife in hand and “aggressively” called out DeBoer. “At this time, we are analyzing evidence as to whether Mr. Hayes was attempting to enter the vehicle,” according to the sheriff’s office.
The Hayes family said last month they believe the incident was “an unjustified homicide.”
“We do not believe that this was self-defense from the man who killed Patrick as it has been alluded to by the perpetrator in his statements to police,” the family said in a statement. “We believe in our hearts that this was an unjustified homicide, and we hope that the evidence and investigation proves that.”
