CEDAR CITY — A woman accused of shooting and killing her boyfriend in a remote area of Iron County last summer has been bound over for trial.
After an hourlong preliminary hearing held Friday before 5th District Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen, Jessica Lynn Sabo, 43, was bound over on a charge of first-degree felony murder in connection with the death of 48-year-old Shawn Laroy Young.
Sabo also faces three other charges, namely felony discharge of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a restricted person, both third-degree felonies; and obstructing justice, a class A misdemeanor.
As previously reported, on the evening of July 2, 2023, Iron County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call from a witness stating that a woman had shot her boyfriend at the property where the two had been living.
Another person who lives on the property had reportedly driven to the nearest town to have someone call 911.
During Friday’s preliminary hearing, Iron County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Byrd testified about the response to that call, along with several other aspects of the case.
Byrd said that while the initial 911 call was made around 8 p.m., it took some time to assemble the Iron Metro SWAT team and other resources and travel to the property in question in Hamlin Valley a sparsely populated area northwest of Beryl, about 65 miles from Cedar City
“The SWAT team was dispatched out there along with a state UHP helicopter,” Byrd said. “They were hovering over the area and in the general area for approximately an hour, hour and a half prior to the warrant being granted.”
Sometime around 10:30 p.m., sniper team members encountered Sabo walking on a dirt road and took her into custody, Byrd said.
Although it was initially reported that Sabo had been carrying a shotgun when officers first encountered her, Byrd testified on Friday the firearm in question was actually located a few weeks later, on Aug. 22, 2023, by a resident of a neighboring property. That came after multiple unsuccessful grid searches by officers and volunteers had been conducted, he said.
Using the Risso .410 shotgun’s serial number, investigators were able to confirm it was the same gun that had been purchased at a pawn shop by the property owner, Byrd added.
Although the gun was found nearly 4 miles away from the trailer where Young’s body was found, Byrd noted that the distance was measured by a vehicle driving on the dirt roadway.
“As a crow flies it can be a lot shorter,” he said.
Also during the preliminary hearing, a five-minute audio recording of the initial 911 call was played. Photographs were introduced into evidence, including some that showed items of clothing worn by Sabo at the time she was taken into custody.
Another photo introduced as evidence showed an X-ray of Young’s body taken during his autopsy.
Byrd said the state medical examiner’s office ruled the cause of death to be a gunshot wound, which was a contact wound with the entry point at the right shoulder blade going toward the heart and lungs.
“The doctor said it would have been a very quick death,” Byrd said.
Sabo, who has been incarcerated in Iron County Jail since her arrest last July, sat alongside defense attorney Shain Manuele during Friday’s hearing.
On Feb. 22, the court agreed with the findings of Sabo’s mental health evaluation and ruled that she was sufficiently competent for the case to proceed.
Sabo’s next scheduled court appearance is a pretrial conference on April 30 at 9 a.m.
This report is based on statements from court documents and law enforcement officials and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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