File photo of a crime scene. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY (CBS Las Vegas) - A local man is facing multiple charges in relation to the brutal murder of a family member.
The man, 21-year-old Zachary Cole Weston, is accused of stabbing his grandmother, 84-year-old Joyce Dexter, on Oct. 3 in her home, according to the Deseret News.
The day of the murder, local authorities were reportedly summoned to Dexter’s residence to investigate a potential domestic disturbance.
Upon their arrival, police said they found Weston standing over his grandmother’s body, holding a bloody knife. Blood was also visible on his hands and clothing, the formal charges state.
Weston reportedly confessed to the crimes, telling police that he “stabbed his grandma” and “slit her belly, her jugular and her heart.”
Medical examiners determined that Dexter had been stabbed a total of 111 times in the heart. In addition, several of Dexter’s organs were allegedly missing.
The Deseret News learned that Weston now faces charges of aggravated murder – a capital offense – as well as two counts each of assault, interfering with a police officer during an arrest, battery and making a false alarm. All of the latter charges are class B misdemeanors.
Weston’s family told the newspaper that he suffered from a mental illness.
Court documents on Weston noted that, after a previous arrest for assaulting his mother, he was ordered to submit to a mental health evaluation as part of his plea agreement.
The documents also reportedly indicate other assault charges for hitting his father, Walt Weston, biting a female friend that tried to defend his father, and slapping an employee at the University Neuropsychiatric Institute of University Hospital.
