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In August, Caylon Schulte and Crystal Turner, newlyweds who often camp around Moab, Utah, were found shot dead in the La Salle Mountains near their campsite. Days earlier, they had told friends that a “scary man” was bothering them at the site and that they were planning to move.
The killings put the Utah community of 5,300 on the brink, but law enforcement officials at the time said little about their investigation.
Now the Grand County Sheriff’s Office says Adam Pinkusevich, a man who worked at the same McDonald’s as Turner, has been identified as a suspect. According to Sheriff Stephen White’s statement Wednesday, Pinkusevich died of suicide sometime after Schulte and Turner were found dead.
Pinkusevic was in the La Sal and Moab mountains when the killings took place, and he later described the killings of “another country”, providing “specific details known only to investigators”, according to the report. The sheriff’s office said he left the state soon after the women were killed.
Schulte and Turner’s bodies were found three weeks before Gabby Petito disappeared, and he was later found dead in the Bridger-Titan National Forest in Wyoming, a 7-hour drive north of Moab. On August 12, just a day before Schulte and Turner were last seen in public, Petito and her friend were spotted arguing in front of the Moab health food store where Schulte worked. Petito’s boyfriend, Brian Laudry, who died of suicide, claimed responsibility for Petito’s death in writing, according to the FBI.
The 22-year-old and her boyfriend went on a trip in their van. Now she is missing.
Charlie Mercier told The Washington Post that he worked with Schulte in the Moonflower Community Cooperative, but did not know her well. “She was always smiling and happy,” Mercier said, explaining that Schulte worked in the market when he started there a year ago.
“We were all very sad about Kaylan’s loss,” he said, responding to news that Pinkusevic had been identified as a suspect. “Everything is just stupid and pointless and he just wants to make me cry. It’s a sad night. “
Schulte, 24, and Turner, 38, were married in April in Arkansas, where Turner is from. Bridget Calvert, Schulte’s aunt, told The Post in August that the couple was “the only one”.
The newlyweds told friends about a “scary man” at their Utah campsite. Five days later, they were found shot.
“Kaylon has always had that kindness, sweetness and love,” Calvert added. “She had someone with Crystal to enjoy.”
The women were last seen in public on August 13 at a local bar, talking about a man who was causing them trouble at their campsite – someone Calvert described as a “strange, scary boy”, The Post reported at the time.
Three days later, Turner did not show up for work at McDonald’s. Two days later, on August 18, Schulte and Turner’s bodies were found.
It is unclear whether Pinkusevic worked at McDonald’s at the same time as Turner or whether the two knew each other. The sheriff’s office said Wednesday that Pinkusevic is one of many people interested in the case.
The sheriff’s office says the investigation into Turner and Schulte’s death will continue, despite the fact that Pinkusevic is no longer alive. For now, investigators are asking anyone who has more information about Pinkusiewicz or his 2007 Toyota Yaris to contact them.
Meryl Cornfield and Katie Shepard contributed to this report.
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