Victim loved helping troubled teens
Her voice shaking with emotion, Beverly Elton sobbed Friday as she described her 22-year-old granddaughter.
"She was lovable, a real caring person. She was a hard worker and had a desire to make something of her life," Beverly Elton said. "She was attending Weber State (University), and she was ready to graduate at the end of the year in criminal justice. That's why she was working where she was, taking care" of the young offenders.
Robert Cameron Houston, 17, who had received counseling for sex offenses, was charged Friday in 2nd District Court with aggravated murder, aggravated sexual assault and rape in Raechale Elton's death. She was stabbed to death late Wednesday inside an independent living residence operated by Youth Health Associates, where she worked.
Davis County prosecutors filed adult charges against the youth. The teenager would not be eligible for the death penalty because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that forbids the execution of minors. Still, the Davis County Attorney's Office said it would push for life in prison without parole if Houston is convicted.
At WSU in Ogden, where Raechale Elton was a senior, her professors and fellow students were in tears upon hearing of the slaying.
"There's a hole in the world today because she's gone," said Paul H. Johnson, an associate professor of criminal justice.
Clearfield police said Houston confessed to the crime, telling them he thought Elton was "cute and he was infatuated with her."
Raechale Elton took a job at the Clearfield group home operated by Youth Health Associates about six months ago.
YHA officials said that on Wednesday Elton gave Houston a ride from the YHA Clearfield group home to an independent living home at 396 Marilyn Drive, just a few blocks away. The attack occurred at that address.
A staff member who was supposed to be supervising Houston was caught in traffic because of the storm Wednesday night and so was not at the center.
Davis County Chief Deputy Attorney Bill McGuire told the Deseret Morning News that Houston used a knife to force Elton to have sexual intercourse with him, then stabbed her multiple times. Houston then took her car and apparently tried to kill himself by driving into a nearby house, McGuire said.
Doug Mahlstede, whose home was damaged when the car slammed into it, said, "He tried to take the knife out and said, 'You should stab me, kill me now.' I told him to keep it in his pocket." The teen was treated at Davis Hospital for internal injuries suffered in the crash. He was released from the hospital and booked into the Davis County Jail Friday.
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