PROVO — A Heber City woman was arrested Saturday for allegedly stealing a truck from some college students at gunpoint near Bridal Veil Falls, then driving it into the river.
Around 2 a.m. Saturday, a 911 caller told dispatchers that a woman had approached their pickup truck near Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon, pointed a gun at everyone in the car and told them to get out, a press release from Utah County Sheriff’s Office said.
The truck’s occupants got out of the vehicle and ran to nearby bushes where one of them called 911. Sgt. Spencer Cannon told KSL-TV the four occupants were students at BYU.
Cannon said it was “likely, very random” that she came across the four students and “chose them to victimize.”
The woman — identified as Heather Leann Murray, 35 — got into the truck and started honking the horn. Officers arrived on scene and ordered Murray to get out of the truck, but she refused, police say.
“She was yelling something about her son being killed or ran over,” a police booking affidavit states.
Murray turned the truck around to face the deputies and believing she had a firearm, the deputies moved away from the vehicle. She then drove 100 yards east of the Bridal Veil Falls parking area before stopping.
After again refusing orders to exit the vehicle, Murray drove the truck into Provo River, the affidavit says. Officers approached the vehicle, where allegedly “she again did not comply and yelled something about her son” before accelerating across the river and crashing into the far side of the riverbank.
She got out of the truck and fled south toward the Provo River Parkway Trail, police said.
County deputies, Utah Highway Patrol troopers and police officers from Orem, Provo and Lehi responded to search for Murray. She was found along U.S. 189 by a parked car, but then ran back down the hill to the road by Bridal Veil Falls.
Officers confronted her near where she originally threatened the students and she was taken into custody, “now no longer wearing pants and still ranting about her son being ran over,” the affidavit states.
Police located a “realistic-looking BB gun” in the stolen truck. Cocaine and drug pipes were located in the car parked on U.S. 189, which turned out to be a car Murray rented, the sheriff’s office said.
“We suspect that she was under the influence of drugs. It’s possible she may have some mental health challenges on board as well,” Cannon said. “Whatever the situation, it was pretty, pretty nervous for a while there until they got her under control,” Cannon said.
Murray was booked into Utah County Jail for investigation of aggravated robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, property damage greater than $5,000, four counts of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon by a restricted person, failure to stop at the command of law enforcement, possession of controlled substances and drug paraphernalia, and driving with a measurable controlled substance.
Just days before this incident, Murray was arrested on Oct. 15 near Bridgeland in Duchesne County for investigation of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. A police booking affidavit states Murray called police claiming someone shot out her back window. An officer located her parked in the middle of a side road off of U.S. 40 and found a lighter, glass pipe and cocaine in her car. She was booked into Duchesne County Jail.
Contributing: Mark Jones and Brianna Chavez
