Utah man accused of killing mother and another man in double homicide case

A missing-person report in Springville turned into a double-homicide investigation after police said Matthew Leonard, 28, was booked into the Utah County Jail on April 12 on two counts of aggravated murder and one count of obstruction of justice in the deaths of his mother, Sarah Johnson, and John Waldron Handricks, 50, of Salt Lake City.

Investigators believe Johnson and Handricks were shot and killed inside Johnson’s Springville home on March 20, the same day police say Leonard was last seen with both victims. Johnson was reported missing on March 26 after she had last been seen at her residence on March 19, and Handricks was later reported missing separately through Salt Lake City Police. By April 6, police said they had received new information suggesting both missing people may have been shot and killed.

The break came a day later in the form of a search warrant. On April 11, officers searching the home found blood, shell casings and a bullet slug, evidence that strengthened the homicide theory and matched other signs investigators say they uncovered inside the residence. Police also said a witness outside the home heard possible gunshots, and that Johnson’s and Handricks’ cellphones were shut off within two minutes of each other on the morning of March 20 and have not been turned back on.

The case has only deepened because of what police say Leonard did after the disappearance. He allegedly filed a missing-person packet in an apparent effort to help enter Johnson into the National Crime Information Center system, a move that now reads like part of the cover story investigators are trying to unwind. Detectives believe Leonard disposed of the bodies, which still have not been found.

Court records and later reporting also painted a more troubled picture in the weeks before the killings. Leonard had already been arrested on March 9 in an unrelated Springville Justice Court harassment case involving his girlfriend, with whom he shares a child. That affidavit said he made 11 calls and sent 11 messages within an hour and a half after being told to stop contacting her, including suicidal comments and statements that he wanted to say goodbye to her and their child. Other reporting said Leonard had been acting paranoid before the deaths.

The Utah County Attorney’s Office asked for more time to file formal charges while it gathered forensic test results and reviewed the evidence already collected. Under Utah law, aggravated murder is the state’s most serious homicide charge, and prosecutors can file it at any time. In a state that recorded 100 homicides in 2024, the case has left Springville police searching for the missing bodies and the last pieces of a timeline that began with a worried family and now points to a suspected concealment after two deaths.