Jeremy Lake Bailey received three life consecutive life terms in the deaths of Anastasia Stevens and her stepmother, Becky Stevens, 61, and father, Donald Stevens, 73. (Courtroom screenshot from ABC Salt Lake City, Utah, affiliate KTVX)
A man who admitted to killing his wife, his parents-in-law, and three family dogs in a botched “murder-suicide” in Utah will spend the rest of his days in prison.
Judge Michael DiReda sentenced Jeremy Lake Bailey on Tuesday to three consecutive life terms in the deaths of Anastasia Stevens, her stepmother, Becky Stevens, 61, and father, Donald Stevens, 73, NBC’s Salt Lake City, Utah, affiliate KSL-TV reported.
“Your life has been spared,” DiReda said. “You were extended mercy that you were unwilling to extend to your wife and her parents. Here you are the beneficiary of that very mercy.”
Family members gave emotional testimony.
“We all are in pain for something that we had nothing to do with,” Donald Stevens’s sister Tami Seipert said, the outlet reported.
Wes Chisnall, whose mother, stepfather and sister were killed, said even though they’re no longer here, they will never be forgotten.
“I will never forget the childhood that I had because of Becky and Anna,” he said, the station reported.
Added Chisnall’s wife: “His cowardice took the lives of a mother, a father and a sister. In the blink of an eye, he left my husband without his family. He stole the innocence of my children’s youth; his actions have created a ripple in their life that will be forever felt.”
Bailey’s attorney, Jonathan Nish, agreed with the resolution, the news station reported.
“This was a serious case that could have been a lot worse than it is now,” he said.
As Law&Crime reported in May, officers claimed it was going to be a “murder-suicide.”
Bailey told police he would rather be executed than serve life in prison, and he asked if a firing squad was still available as an option for the death penalty, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by ABC Salt Lake City affiliate KTVX.
“MASSACRE SUICIDE,” stated a Facebook post made on May 19 morning by an account under the name of the defendant’s wife, Anastasia Stevens, 36. “Jeremy Bailey JUST KILLED EVERYONE Becky Stevens Don Stevens AND 3 OF THE 4 DOGS 1832 EAST GENTILE STREET LAYTON.”
The Layton Police Department said dispatch got a call on May 19 at 9:45 a.m. from a man, later identified as Bailey, saying he had just killed his wife and in-laws.
“There will be a murder-suicide,” he said, according to the probable cause affidavit. He allegedly gave his address during the call.
According to cops, he told them multiple times on the phone that the victims were already dead. He allegedly claimed to have killed them about 20 minutes earlier.
Cops responded to the home at 1832 E. Gentile St.
Bailey called again when cops arrived, and he told authorities he was stepping out to be arrested, according to the affidavit. He followed police commands and was arrested without incident.
Bailey told cops he put his guns in a friend’s garage because he was “thinking of doing this a few days ago,” according to the affidavit.
“I can’t believe I did it,” he allegedly said in what cops described as an “excited” manner.
Cops discovered bodies and dogs in different parts of the house. Anastasia Stevens and her parents were each in separate rooms upstairs. Police said Bailey and his wife lived at the home where the murders happened. Becky and Donald Stevens were visiting from Nevada.
Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.
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