JEFFREY R.

BUHMAN #7041
Utah County Attorney
LANCE BASTIAN #13637
Deputy Utah County Attorney
100 East Center, Suite 2100
Provo, Utah 84606
Email: dcourt@utahcounty.gov
Phone: (801) 851-8026
Fax: (801) 851-8051

IN THE FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT

UTAH COUNTY, STATE OF UTAH

STATE OF UTAH, INFORMATION

Plaintiff,

vs.

JERAD DALE GOURDIN Case No. _________________

Utah State Prison
DOB: 02/09/1984 Judge: ___________________

Defendant. OTN: ____________________

The State of Utah, by and through Lance Bastian, Deputy Utah County Attorney,
charges the defendant with the commission of the following offenses:

COUNT 1: CRIMINAL HOMICIDE, AGGRAVATED MURDER, a first-degree felony,

in violation of Utah Code Ann 76-5-202(1), in that on or about May 21, 2014, in Utah
County, the defendant, Jerad Dale Gourdin, did (1) intentionally or knowingly cause the
death of another under any of the following circumstances:
(d) the homicide was committed incident to an act, scheme, course of conduct or criminal
episode during which the actor committed or attempted to commit aggravated robbery,
robbery, aggravated burglary or burglary;
(f) the homicide was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing an arrest of the
defendant or another by a peace officer acting under color of legal authority or for the
purpose of effecting the defendant's or another's escape from lawful custody;
(g) the homicide was committed for pecuniary gain;
(j) the actor was previously convicted of:
 (i) aggravated assault, Subsection 76-5-103(2);
(k) the homicide was committed for the purpose of:
(i) preventing a witness from testifying;
(ii) preventing a person from providing evidence or participating in any legal
proceedings or official investigation; or
(iv) disrupting or hindering any lawful governmental function or enforcement of
laws;

NOTICE: Aggravated murder is a first-degree felony, punishable by a term of

imprisonment of:
(a) life in prison without parole; or
(b) an indeterminate prison term of not less than 25 years and that may be for life.

Imprisonment under this section is mandatory in accordance with Section 76-3-406.

Aggravated murder is a capital felony punishable by death if a notice of intent to seek the
death penalty is filed by the prosecutor within 60 days of the arraignment of the
defendant.

PROBABLE CAUSE STATEMENT: Keith Mitchell Roland of the Provo Police

Department, having probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the above-
listed offenses, submitted the following evidence in support of the filing of this
Information: On the afternoon of May 21, 2014, at approximately 3:55 p.m., Belen Perez
was found strangled to death in her home in Provo. Perez's body was discovered by her
adult son, who also lived at her home, when he returned home from work. The body was
located in the sitting room immediately inside the front door of the home, with a ligature
tied around Perez's neck, which was discovered to have been a power cord taken from a
stereo in the same room. Various chemicals, including bleach-based liquid drain cleaner
and antifreeze, had been poured over the body, particularly focused around the chest,
neck and head. Perez's purse was sitting on a couch, immediately adjacent to the front
door, from which an iPod and approximately $350 in cash had been taken.

That same morning, between approximately 7:00 and 7:30 a.m., the Defendant, Jerad
Gourdin, who was staying at the residence two doors East of Perez's home and who had
been released from the Utah State Prison on April 3, 2014, began moving about the
neighborhood, knocking on doors and asking about doing odd jobs. He contacted several
neighbors over a period of 4 to 5 hours, asking if he could mow or fertilize their lawn
and/or asking to borrow equipment to perform those tasks. He was loaned a lawn mower
by a neighbor and was seen mowing a few lawns. Gourdin contacted the neighbor a few
doors to the West of Perez's home three separate times, during each of which the
neighbor declined his services, but commented to law enforcement that she felt like the
entire time she was speaking with him at the door, he appeared to be looking past her into
her home. Perez went to Walmart in the early afternoon and was last accounted for by
way of surveillance footage there at 1:06 p.m. She was not seen again until her son found
her approximately three hours later. Gourdin's activities also seemed to stop in the early
afternoon, and he was not seen again by neighbors until later in the evening.

When Gourdin returned home that afternoon, his girlfriend noted that he took two
showers, the first of which lasted approximately 45 minutes, though Gourdin told her he
was just washing his face. She also noted that he was fully clothed when he got into the
shower, and that he washed his clothes in the shower, which was not their regular
practice. When he got out, and police had arrived at the Perez residence, Gourdin's
girlfriend reported that he was acting strangely, changing his clothes multiple times and
standing on the bed to watch the police activity out the window. At one point, however,
she turned on the news, which was reporting on the death of Perez, and Gourdin told her
to turn it off, and that they would not be watching anything about that. Gourdin was a
methamphetamine user, and his girlfriend noted that he appeared to be high during this
episode. Shortly thereafter, Gourdin went into the back yard and assisted the
homeowner, with whom they were staying, with a bonfire in which he was burning yard
waste and debris.

After speaking with several neighbors, Gourdin became a person of interest, and was
interviewed several times by law enforcement. During the first interview, in which
Gourdin gave a written statement, he stated that his only contact with Perez was from the
sidewalk while she was working in the yard, but that she didn't speak English, so he left.
The second time he was interviewed, he said he went to the door and spoke with Perez,
and that the two of them walked around to look at the back yard, though he said he never
entered the back yard. He was asked two times during that interview if he entered the
Perez home at any point, and he said "no." He was asked if his DNA would be found
anywhere in the home, and he indicated the screen door, the front door and the gate to the
fence. Toward the end of the interview, he acknowledged that he may have stepped just
inside the doorway and stood on the carpet. The third time Gourdin was interviewed, he
admitted that Perez gave him an address book to leave his contact information, and that
his fingerprints or DNA might be on that, as well as the fact that he stepped far enough
into the home to put that book on a small sewing table that sat 3 to 4 feet from the
doorway. Gourdin also indicated, for the first time, that he shook Perez's hand. He also
stated that he was high on methamphetamine roughly 8 to 9 days before the interview,
which occurred 6 days after Perez's death.

Perez's clothing and the ligature were processed for DNA, but a profile matching Gourdin
was not obtained. The testing agency said the bleach-based mixture poured over the
body was the perfect substance to destroy or degrade DNA.

In 2006, Gourdin was convicted of theft by receiving stolen property, based on a 2005
incident in which he stole a purse from inside a home which was visible through a screen
door. As a result of this incident, and subsequent conviction, Gourdin's parole was
revoked, and he returned to the Utah State Prison. The day after Perez was killed,
Gourdin stabbed another individual with a screwdriver, and is currently serving time in
the Utah State Prison on his conviction for aggravated assault. During his time in prison,
Gourdin approached another inmate about possible initiation into a gang. Knowing
initiation required a killing, Gourdin asked if a previous incident could satisfy that
requirement. The information provided to law enforcement by this inmate would not
have been publicly or otherwise available, outside of contact with Gourdin.

At the time of Perez’s murder, Gourdin had been previously convicted of aggravated
assault (081800108, Eighth District).

Based upon evidence received from Keith Mitchell Roland of the Provo Police
Department, I have reason to believe the defendant committed the offenses as charged
herein.

Authorized for presentment and filing this 2nd day of August 2018.

UTAH COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

Sworn to by:

/s/ Lance Bastian

Lance Bastian
Deputy Utah County Attorney