Chapter 108: Secrets in Spanish Fork-The Disappearance of Kiplyn Davis

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Every story has a beginning, but not everyone has an ending.
In the shadows of headlines and buried police reports lay
the voices of the missing, the murdered, and the forgotten,
waiting to be heard and have their stories told. This
is the Book of the Dead, a true crime podcast

(00:22):
where we remember forgotten victims of heinous crimes, reopen cold cases,
re visit haunting disappearances, and uncover the truths buried beneath
the years of silence. I'm your host, Courtney Liso, and
every week we turn to another chapter, one victim, one mystery,

(00:44):
one step closer to justice. Brought to you by Darkass
Network in Deep Podcasts with the twist.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Picture this. You're standing at the peak of a mountain,
watching the sunrise paint the world in shades of gold.
That feeling pure magic, the kind that makes every grueling
step worth it. But what happens when that adventure takes
a turn for the worse, when the trail isn't what
you expected, and the great outdoors shows just how wild

(01:32):
it can be. That's where Tragedy with a View comes in.
I'm your host, Kayla, and in this podcast I tell
the stories of adventures gone wrong in some of the
most beautiful and unpredictable places on earth, from natural disasters
that catch even the most seasoned explorers off guard, to
true crime trails that unfold where tranquility meets terror. We

(01:54):
dive into these close calls with disaster that reminds us
just how small we really are. But don't worry, it's
not all doom and gloom. Every story comes with a perspective,
a chance to reflect on the fragility and wonder of life.
After all, what is life without close calls with disaster.
So if you're the kind of person who loves a

(02:14):
good adventure and doesn't shy away from a little chaos
along the way, tune in to Tragedy with a View.
You can find us wherever you listen to podcasts. Grab
your hiking boots, your sense of wonder, and maybe a
little caution, and join me as we explore the untamed
beauty of the world, one story at a time.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Hello, Hello, Welcome to the next chapter in the Book
of the Dead. Thirty years ago, a bright, vivacious, fifteen
year old girl skipped her afternoon classes and disappeared without
a trace. Her belongings were left abandoned in her Locker
and her family left the porch light on every single

(02:57):
night as a beacon, urging her to come home home.
As the years passed, rumors of what happened to her
circled around a tight knit community who wanted answers just
as badly as her parents did, but those who had
those answers chose silence until the truth started catching up

(03:19):
to them. This is the disappearance of Kiplan Davis. Kiplan
Davis was born on July first, nineteen seventy nine, to
Richard and Tamara Davis in Provo, Utah. She was the
third child in the family. She had an older brother
named Rory and an older sister named Hailey. Six years later,

(03:41):
Kiplan's younger sister, Carrissa, was born, and Kiplan was overjoyed.
From what Carissa said, she and Kiplin had a very
special bond and they loved dancing together. According to The
Daily Herald, Kiplan was a very involved older sister, taking
care of Carissa while their parents were at work, doing

(04:02):
her hair, helping with homework, and always ready to involve
Carissa in anything she was doing. She was also incredibly
outgoing and could make friends with anybody. Carissa said, quote
she was just one of those social butterflies, and I
was not like that as a kid. I was like

(04:23):
a shy, quiet type of person. Kiplin had a vibrant
personality and loved to laugh with her friends. Her friend
bekis Seva told the Salt Lake Tribune quote, she was
so kind to everybody, just a fun, bubbly personality. She
loved to laugh. We would giggle for hours. As Kiplin

(04:44):
got older, like most teenage girls, she was very into
makeup and spends a lot of time getting ready for
school in the morning. She had long, red, curly hair
that she always made sure was done and loved putting
her makeup on for the day. According to the Salt
Lake Tribune, Spanish Fork High School secretary Betty Wyman said

(05:05):
of Kiplan quote, she was cute, prissy and pretty. She
always had her hair so done up. In the spring
of nineteen ninety five, Kiplin was fifteen years old and
a sophomore at Spanish Borg High School, located eight blocks
from her home. That spring, Kiplin was very excited to
be getting her driver's license and looking forward to the

(05:26):
activity she had planned that were coming up, including her
older sister's wedding Richards said quote she was excited about
her driver's training, a place she was in, and she
was excited about the young women's group in church. According
to The Daily Herald, she was also looking forward to
her future. Kiplan wanted to attend either Southern Utah University

(05:48):
or Utah Valley State College, both of which were close
to home, allowing her to be near her family. She
dreamed of becoming a kindergarten teacher due to her love
for children. On the morning of May second, nineteen ninety five,
Kiplan woke up to get ready for her driver's at
class that day. At some point before she left to

(06:08):
leave for school, according to The Charlie Project, Kiplan got
into an argument with her parents, presumably about not having
enough time to put makeup on before her class was
to start. From what I can gather, it didn't seem
like much of an argument, but more that Kiplan was
irritated about not having the time to get ready the
way that she wanted to. Kiplin's morning goes by as

(06:30):
usual by all accounts. She attends her morning classes and
is seen eating lunch with her friends. However, she doesn't
attend her afternoon classes, which is unusual. And the school
leaves a message on the Davis's answering machine informing Richard
and Tamara that Kiplan was absent in the afternoon. While

(06:51):
this isn't necessarily a cause for concern, as sometimes teenagers
just skip class, Kiplan was also very active in her
drama club, and there was a rehearsal in the smaller
of the two auditoriums that afternoon. Spanish Bord High School's
production of The Foreigner, in which Kiplin was a prompter,
was opening in three days, and the cast and crew
were hard at work to be ready for opening night. However,

(07:15):
Kiplin never made it to the dress rehearsal. In fact,
no one had seen Kiplin since lunchtime that day, and
her friends in the drama program were worried. According to
an article in the Daily Herald, those who weren't involved
in the rehearsal that afternoon searched the school for her.
When rehearsal finished, the others joined the search as well,
but no one could find Kiplin. However, while her friends

(07:40):
were worried, the staff at the high school was not.
Assistant principal for the school, Darryl Rolfe, who was a
counselor in nineteen ninety five said that they had adopted
a wait and see attitude, but the longer it went,
the more difficult it became for the students. When Kiplin
didn't come home from school that day, Carissa, who was

(08:00):
nine at the time, was worried. She said, quote, usually
my sister would take care of me and help me
with my homework and stuff like that. My parents were
at work. At around five pm, when Richard and Tamara
arrive home and Kiplan still isn't there, they called the
police to report their daughter missing. After their own start
at the school failed to give them any sort of

(08:22):
idea as to where Kiplin could be. Initially, though, police
operated under the assumption that Kiplin was a runaway. She
was at an age where teenagers would run off for
a few hours or a day or so, and she
had reportedly had that argument with her parents about wanting
to do her makeup before school started. She had, also,

(08:43):
according to her father, started skipping two of her classes
the week before, something that was not like Kiplin at all. However,
Richard and Tamara were adamant that Kiplin hadn't left on
her own. Kiplin was not a troubled child, and there
were no obvious problems in her life. In fact, the
only things that Richard could think of that his daughter

(09:04):
was even remotely upset about was a date and not
making the drill team at school. There was nothing else
going on in Kiplan's life that would be a cause
for concern or be reason enough for her to want
to run away. With police and the school not taking
Kiplin's disappearance seriously, her family took it upon themselves to

(09:25):
try and find her. Carissa suggested putting up flyers that
very night, and Richard drove around every single evening for weeks,
hoping that he would see a sign of Kiplin. Her
locker was searched at the high school, and inside her purse, makeup, retainer,
and school books were found, reinforcing the idea that Kiplin

(09:45):
hadn't run away for her to leave behind. Her makeup
in purse, especially when she was known to care about
her appearance, showed that wherever Kiplin had gone after lunch
on the day she went missing, she had every intention
of returning to the school. Strangers still were the alleged
sightings of Kiplin on May third, the day after she

(10:06):
failed to return, home. She was allegedly seen in a
strange car and also seen walking on Center Street, but
as far as I can tell, these sightings were never
substantiated as fact. Two weeks after Kiplan was first reported missing,
her case was upgraded from a runaway to a missing person,

(10:27):
and police and her friends and family covered Spanish Fork
in flyers pleading for her return or any information leading
to her whereabouts. According to The Daily Herald, first responders
handed out over six thousand flyers and went knocking on
every door in the city and surrounding areas. At a
press conference her family gave after the upgrade to her case,

(10:50):
Kiplan's older sister, Haley said, quote, we love her and
we want her to come home. And Richard spoke of
how difficult things had been for his family since her
disappearance and poleaded for Kiplin to come home. He said, quote,
we love her, We're not mad at her. If there's
something that's hurt her feelings or anything, please come home

(11:10):
and we'll work it out. I just want to be
her father and have her under my roofs so I
can protect her. We drive around at night hoping to
find that needle in the haystack. We hope that she
walks in one night and knows that we love her
and this is her home. After the press conference and
due to the efforts of investigators, more leads came in

(11:32):
about Kiplan's case, with some people saying she had been
seen in the Springville area, possibly at University Mall in Orum,
and there were alleged sightings in the surrounding states. While
police were following every lead, even seventeen days after her disappearance,
they were still reluctant to consider that Kiplin had run

(11:52):
into any sort of foul play. The lead investigator, Detective
Morgan Warner, said that while the dragnet would have at
least found some at evidence, if not Kiplin herself, as
she were a runaway quote, we have no reason as
far as the physical evidence that foul play has occurred.
We are proceeding with the investigation about possible wrongful acts

(12:12):
that may have occurred. They also had rumors to contend with, though,
everything from Kiplin being killed as part of a Satanic
ritual and a psychic alleging she had been murdered and
her remains had been scattered as far as the Colorado border.
During the investigation and especially after the FBI was brought
into aid. In the search, various students were questioned about

(12:34):
Kiplin's last movements, most notably for boys who were in
the drama program with Kiplin, Scott Brunson, Tim Olsen, Christopher Jebson,
and David Leifsen. Also questioned was a Gary Blackmore, who
didn't attend Spanish Fork High School nor did he know Kiplin,
but he was friends with the others. All five boys

(12:59):
were older than Kiplin, between the ages of sixteen and eighteen,
and all had interesting stories to tell. According to The
Daily Herald, Scott Brunson told FBI agent Mike Anderson that
tim Olsen was with him all day on May second,
and they were building a shed together. Chris Jepson said

(13:19):
that he had seen Kiplin after lunch, but then he
spent the next twelve hours working on the lights in
the school's larger auditorium. He claimed tim Olsen and David
Leifsin showed up around three PM and stayed with him,
throwing a football around until about seven or eight PM
before leaving. And this is particularly interesting because the school's

(13:42):
choir was practicing in that auditorium that evening, and no
one could remember seeing any of the boys there. Chris
also claimed that Tim and David were at his home
with him when he returned from school. When the news
about Kiplin being missing made its way around the community,
Tim himself originally claimed he was installing sprinklers, before changing

(14:04):
his story and claiming he spent the day with Scott
working on the shed. While police and the FBI were
suspicious of the teenager stories due to a lack of evidence,
they couldn't do anything but allow all of the boys
to get on with their lives, but the cloud of
suspicion around them never fully went away. As the weeks

(14:25):
and months passed, Kiplan's case grew cold, much to the
despair of her family. In October of nineteen ninety six,
according to court records, Tim Olsen agreed to take a
polygraph test administered by FBI agent Ronald Homer. However, Tim
claimed in the pre interview, at least initially, that he

(14:46):
had no memory of what happened on May second, nineteen
ninety five. At Homer's urging to just be honest, Alson
claimed that he had driven to Spanish for a canyon
and saw David Ruckerleifsin and Kiplin together in Leaps and car.
According to his written statement, Tim said quote on May second,
nineteen ninety five, I, Tim Olson saw Kiplin and Rucker

(15:09):
up Spanish for a canyon in Rucker's ranger, and I
know it was Rucker. I followed Rucker out of the
canyon and down Center Street. I remember Rucker and Kiplin
talking because I was there. He then claimed that Leifson
and Kiplin walked away, but only leif Sin came back
and told him not to worry about where Kiplan was. However,

(15:31):
Tim then crumpled up this statement and threw it away,
refusing to speak further about any potential involvement Leibsen had
in Kiplan's disappearance. In December, due to the efforts of
the company ADVO Inc, flyers with Kiplin's picture were distributed
to sixty one million homes throughout the country as part
of a national mailing feature in the hope someone would

(15:51):
come forward with valuable information. ADVO worked with the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and at the time
Kipler flyer was to be mailed out, had aided in
the safe recovery of seventy nine children. Of their efforts,
Kelly Lombardi, the manager of government relations for ADVOS, said quote,
all families in this situation want some type of closure.

(16:14):
We're just hoping people will look in their mailboxes and
be able to tell us what happened to Kiplan. Of
the feature, coupled with the FBI's ten thousand dollars reward,
Kiplin's family was hopeful that a substantial lead would come
out of it, especially considering that America's Most Wanted and
the Polyclouse Foundation also got involved in Kiplan's case. Richards

(16:36):
said quote, Realistically, we think something bad has happened to her.
We're hoping that that isn't the case, but with everyone
doing everything they can to help, we feel good that
the ball will keep rolling until this does come to
an end. In nineteen ninety nine, even though progress still
had not been made, the Davis family had a headstone

(16:56):
place in Spanish porg Cemetery with Kiplan's name and data,
so that they would have somewhere to go and be
close to her. Even though the years were continuing to
pass with no word on what happened to Kiplin, the
Davis family refused to lose hope, optimistic that while they
believed Kiplin was no longer living, they would one day
get the answers they were looking for and be able

(17:17):
to bring Kiplin's body home to rest. The Davis family's
porch light had stayed on day and night since the
day she had gone missing as a beacon to guide
their daughter home, even as the investigation floundered, and many
of the businesses in the area had kept Kiplin's missing
flyers posted and refused to take them down until she

(17:38):
was found. In two thousand and three, though, the Davis
family received a ray of hope when fellow Utah native
Elizabeth Smart was found alive after being kidnapped at night
point from her Salt Lake City bedroom this summer before.
Richard and tamaraw were thrilled for the Smarts, but there
was an understandable bit of jealousy as well. Elizabeth's case

(18:01):
had received national attention, but Kiplan's case has only ever
been featured in local papers, primarily the Daily Herald. As
a result, though, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, Richard
and Tamara went to the US Attorney for Utah, Paul Warner,
and asked for help. Warner agreed to convene a federal

(18:21):
grand jury to investigate Kiplan's case. Finally, the family was
starting to get results. That April, after going over every
statement made, as well as tracking down countless witnesses. One
by one, Scott Brunson, Gary Blackmore, David Leafsin, Chris Jepson,

(18:44):
and Tim Olsen were all indicted on numerous charges of
perjury and making false statements to police and federal investigators.
Spanish Work as a community, though surprised at these men,
who were teenagers at the time of kiplin disappearance were
possibly involved, were vocal about the belief that they had

(19:05):
help from their parents in covering up any potential involvement.
Wayne Roach said quote, I don't see how that many
kids could be involved and their parents not know anything.
And Richard Shumway said quote, we pride ourselves on having
strong family values, but in this case, maybe those values
were a little too strong, those family ties a little

(19:27):
too binding. Two days before the tenth anniversary of Kiplan's
disappearance in April of two thousand and five, the first
arrest was made. According to his indictment, Scott Brunson was
alleged to have made numerous false statements to agent Mike Anderson,
including quote falsely representing that a person known to the

(19:49):
grand jury but referred to in the indictment as an
unnamed person, never told him of his involvement in Kiplin
Davis's disappearance. It further alleges that brn denied ever having
been asked by an unnamed person to provide a false
alibi as to his whereabouts on the day Miss Davis disappeared.

(20:09):
He did plead not guilty and was released from prison
with the stipulation that he not leave the state of Utah,
consume alcohol or controlled substances, contact the two witnesses named
in the indictment, or have any firearms in his possession.
When Brunson went to trial in December, though, he gave
a sworn statement admitting that he lied. He said quote,

(20:33):
I knowingly lied to the grand jury when asked whether
Timmy Brent Olsen asked me to tell anyone who asked
that he was with me working on a shed at
my home. Timmy Brent Olson did ask me to create
a false alibi for May second, nineteen ninety five. In
August of two thousand and five, Gary Blackmore was arrested

(20:54):
and indicted on four accounts of giving a false or
fictitious statement to the FBI, and one count of perjury
in front of a federal grand jury. Melody ride Al,
the spokeswoman for the US Attorney's office, told the Daily Herald, quote,
evidence has developed that Blackmore has information from two people
who are not named in the indictment, but who are

(21:16):
known to the grand jury, and this information we believe
is material to the investigation. According to the indictment, the
first four accounts of giving a false statement involved a
discussion with agent Mike Anderson in which Gary claimed that
he never discussed Kiplan's disappearance with these two witnesses. This
discussion reportedly involved Blackmore approaching two people and asking them

(21:40):
where they would dispose of a body in nineteen ninety seven.
The fifth count referred to him saying in front of
the grand jury that he never discussed Kiblan's disappearance with
three of the men names in the indictment. Blackmore ultimately
struck a plea bargain and served thirteen months in prison.
David Lee Leifsen was indicted on six charges of perjury,

(22:03):
and he, according two stories of the Unsulvet, had been
charged with Kiplan's murder. But he pleaded guilty to the
third count of perjury in a plea deal where he
lied to the grand jury about confronting Tim Olsen in
front of two other people about Olsen alluding to the
fact that Leifsen was responsible for Kiplan's disappearance and death

(22:23):
during that pre interview for his polygraph. Had he told
the truth, that the grand jury hearing the FBI could
have further investigated Olsen for his potential involvement. Leifson was
ultimately sentenced to forty eight months in prison, as well
as three years of supervised release. He did appeal this
based on the fact that he believed the court airred

(22:46):
in sentencing him under the accessory after the fact cross
reference guidelines two second Great Murder and his claims that
his perjury did not abstruct the investigation, as well as
the fact that he claimed he was not informed that
the EBI was conducting a murder investigation about Kiplan's case.
This appeal was denied. Chris Jepson was arrested in two

(23:08):
thousand and five for perjury and making false statements. Specifically,
according to KSL, he was accused of telling people that
he knew who killed Kiplin. And at another time claiming
that he was present when Kiplan's body was buried under
a building that was under construction in nineteen eighty five.
It is worth mentioning, though, that this seemed to be false.

(23:32):
Kiplin's remains were not present at that particular location. During
his initial trial, Richard and Samara testified that Jepson had
actually come to their home about a year after Kiplin disappeared.
Jepson had claimed to police he was there in preparation
for an LDS church mission and had shown up to
apologize about making rude and vulgar statements to Kiplin in

(23:55):
the past, something that Kiplin had actually written about in
her diary. She had liked Jepson and he allegedly made
sexual comments towards her, but the Davis has said Jepson
had come to tell them that he had nothing to
do with Kiplan's disappearance and wanted to clear his conscience.

(24:16):
In October of two thousand and seven, according to the
Charlie Project, Jepson was charged with Kiplan's murder, but right
before going to trial in May of two thousand and nine,
he struck a plea deal. He pleaded no contest to
obstruction of justice, and the prosecution agreed that he would
no longer be charged with Kiplan's disappearance or death. He

(24:37):
also signed an affidavit claiming he was not involved in
her disappearance and had no idea what happened to her.
Tim Olsen was arrested in September of two thousand and
five and indicted on twenty counts of perjury, specifically that
he quote made statements to several individuals implicating himself and

(24:58):
another in Kiplan's disappearance in death. He then denied making
those statements when asked about them under oath before the
grand jury. The indictment also states that Olsen likely knew
who killed Kiplin and where her body was located. Ultimately,
he was convicted on fifteen counts of perjury after the

(25:18):
grand jury heard from countless witnesses, over twenty of whom
testified at his trial. Since I have the court records,
will go over these counts since they are incredibly damning
and contributed to another indictment he was charged with after
the fact.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Now.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Counts one through five specifically deal with the statements he
made and later denied to the grand jury during his
pretest interview for his polygraph with agent Ronald Homer. While
Tim insisted Homer told him what to write end quote
got into his head. This was deemed false after Homer
testified for Count two. Olsen swore that he never spoke

(25:59):
about anything so said during his pretest interview to anyone
other than law enforcement, meaning the accusation that he saw
David Leibson with Kiplin on the day she disappeared. However,
a former coworker of Olsen's, Robert Gilner, testified that in
July of nineteen ninety five, Tim told him he saw
the two together and that quote Rucker had pulled out

(26:21):
a flashlight and beat Davis over the head with it
and buried her in a blanket. A woman named Sean
and Manson also testified that she confronted Olson about his
possible involvement in Kiplan's disappearance in nineteen ninety six, and
she was told that he and Leifsen brought Kiplin to
Spanish for a canyon and then she went off with Leifsin,

(26:43):
but he was the only one to return. At a
later date, Olsen said quote, I did her in I
hurt her. Count three alleged that he denied vomiting in
the car belonging to Heath Robinson at a party in
nineteen ninety eight because he was so distraught about what
had happened to Kiplin. Robinson testified that he did vomit

(27:04):
in the car, and he was very emotional. Another man
who had attended the party, Kevin Johnson, said that he
heard the very emotional Olson say, quote, I didn't get out,
I stayed in the truck. They were gone for a while.
He came back, got in the truck and sped down
the canyon. In count four, Olson claimed he hadn't seen

(27:26):
Kiplin for a couple of months before she disappeared, but
three different people testified that they saw him with her
skipping class on May second, nineteen ninety five. Olson allegedly
told one of them that they had gone to the
canyon together. They argued, so he quote took care of her.
In count five, Olsen swore he never asked Scott Brunson

(27:49):
to fabricate an alibi for him for the day Kiplin disappeared.
As we've covered, Scott testified to the contrary, saying that
Olsen did ask, and that while he initially refused, Scott
ultimately provided the alibi. Count six through nine deal with
the denial of his history of sexual violence. Olson claimed

(28:12):
that he never forced the woman to have sex with
him and never committed rape. However, two women testified at
trial that he had raped them, and three other witnesses
claimed that Olson had admitted to them that he had
raped Kiplin. In count seven, he denied that he assaulted
and raped his ex girlfriend Amber Paine after she confronted

(28:34):
him about his involvement in Kiplan's disappearance. Amber testified that
after she asked him about Kiplin, he punched her in
the stomach, threw her into the wall, and took her
to Spanish Port Canyon, where he raped her. In count eight,
tim Olsen claims he never assaulted a woman in Oak
City Canyon, nor did he become sexually aggressive with her.

(28:56):
He said it was the most absurd thing he had
ever had in his life. This unnamed woman testified that
he hit her with a flashlight over the head when
she refused to kiss him, and that it was quote
like a reflex for him. In count nine, Olson claimed
that he was never violent with either of his ex wives,

(29:18):
specifically that he had pushed his ex wife Brandy into
a wall. Brandy testified that two weeks after they got married,
he accused her of cheating on him. He threw Brandy
into the wall and grabbed her by the wrists to
pin her down to the point that she couldn't breathe.
When Brandy later asked for a divorce, she testified that

(29:40):
he threw her into the wall with such force that
a picture came off the wall and hit her in
the head. In counts ten through fourteen, it was alleged
that Tim Olsen perjured himself by denying that he made
statements claiming that he himself had killed Kiplin. Two witnesses
testified that in nineteen ninety nine for a football game,

(30:01):
Tim said at a party about Kiplin, quote I know
where that fucking bitch is. I killed her, and I
know where she's at. I killed her. In count eleven,
he denied telling a man named Sean Pierce that he
killed Kiplin at a party. Shawn testified that Olsen said
he quote took Davis, beat her, killed her, and disposed

(30:24):
of her body. In count twelve, it alleged that Tim
claimed to have never told anyone, including a man named
Chris Butterfield, that the FBI was looking at him as
a suspect in a murder investigation. Chris testified that Olsen
did tell him this and said quote, I did it.
I did it. I killed her, I raped her. And

(30:45):
two other witnesses confirmed that they heard Olsen admit to
killing Kiplin. In Count thirteen, he denied telling a group
of people quote, we all know who did it. We
did it, referencing Kiplin's murder. Witnesses testified that he said
this at a party in nineteen ninety nine. Count fourteen

(31:06):
alleges that Tim Olson denied making statements about burying Kiplan's body.
A man who employed Olson in two thousand and two,
Don Meadows, said that he had asked, without mentioning Kiplin's name,
what he did with her. Tim allegedly said that he
quote wished he knew so he could tell her parents
what happened to her. When Don asked him again, Tim stated, quote,

(31:30):
we buried her in the sand. Bodies sink in the sand. Finally,
in count fifteen, Tim Olson denied that he had ever
made statements claiming he had any involvement whatsoever in Kiplin's disappearance, murder,
or burial. A majority of the aforementioned witnesses claim otherwise

(31:51):
according to the affidavit mentioned by Desert News. Witnesses also
claimed that Olson had made several other statements claiming responsibility
for Kim Pipland's death, including quote I can make someone disappear.
I did it once, I can do it again. End
quote I slept with her, beat her and disposed of
her body. Another witness claimed that Olsen, at a party

(32:15):
in two thousand and three, quote admitted to her and
others that he knew where Kiplan Davis was buried by
the tunnels at Spanish four Canyon, and that Tim Olsen
admitted to them that he buried her under the train tracks.
In two thousand and five, another witness told police that
Kiplan was buried at a place called Kiplan's Cove, and
that when this witness and a friend who was also

(32:37):
friends with Olsen were in the canyon, the friend laid
flowers down in front of a tree and indicated that
it was where they were told Kiplan was buried. In
two thousand and nine, tim Olsen was charged with first
degree murder in the death of Kiplan Davis based on
the very incriminating circumstantial evidence obtained during his perjury trial.

(32:59):
In fact, act, his original sentence of twelve years for
perjury was influenced by Kiplin's presumed murder. He did try
and appeal this conviction, stating that there was no evidence
to support this, but the courts ruled that the circumstantial
evidence was more than enough to sustain the conviction. In

(33:19):
February twenty eleven, one month before he was to go
to trial for the murder charge, tim Olsen took a
plea deal and pled guilty to first degree manslaughter, and
he received one to fifteen years in prison instead of
the life sentence he would have received if he had
been found guilty of murder. While Tim Olson has been

(33:42):
the only one out of the five men arrested to
be convicted of murder, some believe someone else is involved,
specifically that Olson's brief mention of David Leifson's involvement was true.
In twenty fourteen, ABC four stated that the Leafs and family,
who had very close ties to the Davis family, was

(34:03):
in the midst of a family feud because Leif's and
sister Nicole, believes that members of her family have covered
up David's role in Kiplan's death. The primary person she
believes covered up David's involvement is their father, David Senior.
Her other brothers, Danny and Zach claimed that the accusation
is baseless, but Nicole says that while she doesn't have proof,

(34:27):
her father and brother both act suspiciously after Kiplan's disappearance.
She said that there was a quote definite code of silence.
There always has been, and it's very possible She's right.
Many people in the community, as I said, believe that
the parents of these men probably knew more than they

(34:47):
were letting on, but nobody can prove it. In twenty
twenty one, Tim Olson had his first parole hearing, and
he and his lawyer explained that he had made great
strides in prison and he was a better person. He
also admitted that his issues with alcohol put him on
a destructive path when he was younger, and yet while

(35:09):
he claims to be making all of this great progress,
he's still refused to confess where Kiplin's body had been buried,
even though if he did it would increase his chances
of parole. His refusal could actually prevent being paroled at all.
Based on a new law that was approved by the
Utah state legislator in February of twenty twenty one that

(35:32):
blocks parole for someone convicted of homicide unless the remains
of the victim have been recovered or the offender can
demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that the offender
has cooperated in good faith efforts to locate the remains. Olson,
by his refusal to give law enforcement a specific location

(35:52):
did contribute to his parole being denied. His lawyer, Carolyn Howard,
claims that it's not that old sin And is refusing
to cooperate, but simply that he doesn't have any new
information to offer, and he was being honest at his hearing.
She said, quote the primary questions that they had to
ask of him today and did ask of him today,

(36:15):
was pursu into the new law that has been passed.
As to whether he was willing to provide any information
as to the location of Kiplin Davis's body and her remains,
he stated that he does not have any information on
that subject. He provided the authorities years ago with the
only information he did have on his knowledge of where

(36:36):
the remains of Kiplin Davis were, but as of today,
he does not have any additional information and so he
was not able to provide the information that they were seeking.
She also said it was like he was being retried
because of this law, and that it comes down to
whether or not the parole board believes him to be credible.

(36:57):
So far, all of his efforts to be paroled have
been unsuccessful, although he is said to be released from
prison in twenty twenty six. It is worth mentioning that
while multiple people were allegedly told where Kiplin was buried,
the police and FBI have gone on multiple wild goose
chases trying to locate her remains, but her body has

(37:18):
never been found. Richard Davis has also written to all
of the men involved in the case of begging them
to tell him where Kiplin's body is, but his letters
have gone unanswered. He even agreed to advocate on Olson's
behalf at parole hearings if Olsen gave up the location
of his daughter's remains, but Olsen refused. The biggest issue

(37:41):
is that while Kiplin is likely buried in the canyon,
they have no idea where in the canyon she is.
They've never been given a specific location to search. In
the years since his daughter disappeared, and through every trial
he and his wife have sat through, hoping that finally
they would get the answers they wan looking for. Richard

(38:01):
has never lost hope that he'd one day be able
to bring his daughter home. He spends his days looking
for answers and trying to live his life in the present,
including becoming an active member of his church like Kiplin
had urged him to do so many years before. In
twenty twenty four, he wrote a book about Kiplin's case
and the effect it had on his family, called When

(38:24):
an Angel Leaves Your Life, and all money from the
sales of his book will go towards a scholarship founded
in Kiplan's honor. Carissa has also been an active participant
in trying to get answers for her sister. She is
active on the Fine Kiplin Davis Facebook page and regularly
visits the grave marker in Spanish Pork Cemetery to feel

(38:44):
close to Kiplin. While Kiplin's body is not there, Curisa
feels that her sister's spirit is, and she spends her
time talking to her. At the time of Kiplin's disappearance,
she was fifteen years old, between five foot two and
five foot four, and a around one hundred and ten
to one hundred and twenty pounds. She had pale skin
with freckles, blue eyes, and curly red hair that went

(39:07):
past her shoulders, and she also had a birthmark on
the back of her neck. She was last seen wearing
an off white crew neck with a bay stripe, a
light blue downim vest with bay stripes and a small
designer tag, dark blue bumb Equipment brand downim shorts, and
white sandals with quark soules and three stripes on the
front and two on the heel. She was also wearing

(39:29):
two silver rings, one shaped like a flower and one
embossed with the letter CTR and flowers on the sides.
Any One that has any information is asked to call
the Spanish Fork Police Department at eight zero one seven
nine eight five zero seven zero or eight zero one
eight zero four four to seven zero zero. You could

(39:52):
also call the FBI Field Oppice at eight zero one
three seven four five three three two. Richard Davis has
said if it takes the rest of his life to
find Kiplin, he would do it. After thirty years of searching,
it's time to bring her home. Thank you so much

(40:12):
for listening to this chapter of the Book of the Dead.
And as always, I hope you have a wonderful week
and I will see you in the next chapter. Bye, guys,
another page closed. But the story isn't over for the
families left behind, the pain doesn't end when the headline's fade.

(40:36):
And for the victims, we owe them more than silence.
For our unsolved cases. If you have any information, please
reach out to local authorities or visit our show notes
for links and resources. Someone out there knows something, maybe
it's you. Thank you for listening to the Book of
the Dead. If this story moved or spoke to you

(40:58):
in some way, talk about share it. Keep their names alive.
Until next time, I'm Courtney Liso. Stay safe, stay curious,
and stay vigilant, and remember the dead may be gone,
but their stories will not be forgotten.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Chapter 108: Secrets in Spanish Fork-The Disappearance of Kiplyn Davis

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

All Episodes

Chapter 108: Secrets in Spanish Fork-The Disappearance of Kiplyn Davis

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce