More than 30 years after Utah woman disappeared, her then-boyfriend will stand trial in her death
PROVO – A judge has turned down an offer from a man charged more than three decades ago with the murder of a woman trying to dismiss his case because of pandemic delays in the Utah judicial system.
Michael Ignatius Kufrin says he has been denied the right to a speedy trial for more than a year. He pleaded not guilty of murder, a first degree crime, in the death of his former girlfriend, Peggy Sue Case.
Case’s disappearance in 1988 remained a mystery for nearly 30 years until a tenant at Kufrin’s former home in Spanish Fork found remains under a basement in the backyard in 2017. An autopsy revealed the remains belonged to Case and her death was convicted of murder.
Fourth district judge Kraig Powell declined to ditch the case Thursday, paving the way for Kufrin to stand trial in June. The judge found that Kufrin’s defense team had agreed to postpone the case in some places and said 64-year-old Kufrin was responsible for certain delays as he was concerned about contracting COVID-19. refused for some hearings.
Some Utah courthouses, including Provos, began running trials in a pilot program earlier this year, but Powell said Kufrin had decided against it.
He was held in Utah County Jail for nearly four years after being arrested in Illinois in 2017.
In the days before Case disappeared, Kufrin was upset when the two left a party and accused her of flirting with other men that night, her friends told investigators. The police dug through the ground in the basement shortly after they disappeared, but found no evidence.
A trial is scheduled to begin on June 1st.
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