SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of killing the 15-year old West High School student he was having a relationship with makes his first court appearance in Salt Lake City.
Shaun French made his initial court appearance through a video link from the Salt Lake County Jail. Technically, there were two cases brought against French, the man accused of killing Baleigh Bagshaw.
“In one case, he’s facing three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. That’s the first case we filed,” says prosecutor Nathan Evershed. “In the other case, we filed aggravated murder, aggravated burglary obstruction of justice and we also filed sexual exploitation of a minor.”
The probable cause statement shows French is accused of entering Bagshaw’s home through the basement and states he later gave information to police that wasn’t common knowledge. Plus, one person claims he saw blood on French’s face and hands shortly after the murder.
“In the probable cause statement, we do have that he confessed to his brother and he confessed to his father, as well,” Evershed says.
He adds, “Obviously, if someone is confessing to something, that can be important evidence in any case, particularly a murder.”
A scheduling hearing has been set for a week from Friday.