Argument over affair preceded plane crash, police say
Aug 16, 2018, 9:51 AM | Updated: 10:24 am
Chopper 5 took this photo of the crash site. The pilot died, but the two residents in the Payson home were unhurt.
PAYSON — Court documents say the man who flew a plane into his own Payson home earlier this week had been arguing with his wife over an affair she was having with another man, an altercation that got physical before police were involved.
This photo provided by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office shows Duane Youd. Youd, of Utah, flew a small plane into his own house early Monday, Aug. 13, 2018, just hours after he had been arrested for assaulting his wife in a nearby canyon where the couple went to talk over their problems, authorities said.
“She had told Dwane (sic) last night that she was still seeing the same man whom she had had an affair with last year, and that the affair had been on-going since that time,” the probable cause statement says.
The statement goes on to say Duane Youd’s wife told police he had been drinking Sunday morning, and that they drove up American Fork Canyon Sunday afternoon to talk. While there, she says Youd became increasingly agitated, eventually screaming and yelling.
The probable cause statement claims Youd stopped the truck and tried to leave his wife on the side of the road, at which time she jumped in the truck bed, and he continued to drive while she was being slammed around by the vehicle.
After that, police say Youd stopped and tried to physically remove his wife from the truck.
“As Dwane (sic) continued to pull at [her] waste (sic), he pulled her shorts and underwear from her body and threw them in the vehicle, then grabbing [her] again as he punched her in the lower back and buttocks trying to remove her,” the probable cause statement said.
He then began banging his head into her face, the probable cause statement alleges, after which she tried to claw at his trying to get him to stop.
Police say he went back to the cab, grabbed her 4-month-old puppy and threw it out of the truck. She, naked from the waist down, was then assisted by several people who helped her get her clothes back on and prevented her from further attack.
It was those bystanders who ultimately flagged down the officer who filed the probable cause statement.
Ultimately, Duane Youd was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail, but released, a couple of hours before the plane crash.
