Charges filed in code enforcement officer’s death
Aug 21, 2018, 11:01 AM | Updated: 11:54 am
WEST VALLEY CITY — Prosecutors have filed a laundry list of criminal charges, including murder, arson and animal cruelty, over the shooting death of a West Valley City code enforcement officer earlier this month.
New details in the charging documents suggest officer Jill Robinson would not have gone to the house where she was shot unless summoned there.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office filed thirteen counts in all on Tuesday against Kevin Billings, 64, including desecration of a body.
Billings is accused of shooting Robinson on Aug. 9, when she went to his home for an inspection. A probable cause statement included with the charges said Billings’ daughter confirmed he was supposed to have an appointment that day with code enforcement.
Billings had received several notices about complaints involving his yard and vehicles. Robinson had also sent Billings a letter at the end of July, telling him he would be fined $50 a day unless he brought his property into compliance.
“The letter detailed the ordinance violation at BILLINGS’ residence and included instructions to request an inspection and obtain a ‘notice of compliance’ from an ordinance officer by August 6, 2018,” the probable cause statement reads. “The letter emphasized that it was BILLINGS’ responsibility to contact the West Valley City Ordinance Enforcement office to schedule a compliance inspection.”
The probable cause statement detailed interviews with several witnesses, including Robinson’s supervisor, who told police she would not have been at Billings’ home that day unless he’d contacted her to request an inspection. Investigators reviewed phone records that reportedly showed Billings contacted Robinson on Aug. 8 and made an appointment for 10 a.m. on August 9.
The probable cause statement also said police found over 1,000 yards of detonation cord inside Billings’ home, which the daughter told police he used for rope while camping. Police also reported finding “over 400 blasting caps with altered shock tubes.”
The blast blew out the window of the neighboring home where investigators later found the bodies of four dogs. That neighbor told investigators a hole found in the fence between his property and Billings’ had not been there the day before. Police then found a propane torch and five-gallon gas cans on Billings’ property near that hole. A specially trained dog also detected accelerant on Robinson’s truck, which was destroyed by fire.
