Man makes initial appearance in cold case murder case

SPANISH FORK – It’s an initial court appearance nearly three decades in the making.  The man accused of killing his girlfriend in 1988 stepped in front of a judge on Monday.

Inside the courtroom, Michael Kufrin was shown the charges against him and told he has until December 11^th to hire his own attorney.  Charges were filed against him after the remains of Peggy Sue Case were found in the dirt ground of a root cellar in Spanish Fork in May of this year.

One of the men who found the remains is speaking about how he did it.  Gordon Cazier says he could tell something was different about the dirt in that cellar because it was sinking.  He says, “It was covered with carpet.  On top of that was a heavy 2×4 table.  I’ve been in construction most of my life, and, if there’s a depression, there’s a reason.”

Cazier says he knew about the story of the missing woman from that house.  He called police who reportedly told him that they had already searched there.  “That was a year before I found it and I told him, ‘I know where it is,’” he says.

In late May, Cazier was moving out of that home, and he and a friend decided to dig the sinking ground.  Roughly 18 inches down, they found a blanket.  “I gave him my knife and he cut open the blanket, and there was a skull,” Cazier says.  Police found the rest of the remains and Kufrin was arrested in Illinois.

Since the discovery, Cazier says he’s spoken with the family of the Case.  He says, “I’m just glad the family is going to have some peace, now.  They have had a proper funeral for her and she’s at rest now.”