You have every right to hate me, every right to want me dead and every right to never forgive me. I take full responsibility for your daughter’s death. But her death was not the worst part, what I did after she was dead was unexcusable, sick, and disgusting. I hate myself for what I did. I am in terrible pain every day because your daughter is dead by my actions. She should still be with you. All I can say is I'm sorry. The words are small but they are so sincere. Sincerely, Craig Gregerson.
Craig Gregerson. Autograph Letter Signed. Handwritten Commercial #10 (4.125 × 9.5) envelope. Salt Lake City, UT. Pmk: September 8, 2006. SEALED. Content unknown. Pristine.
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Rape
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: July 16, 2006
Date of arrest: 8 days after
Date of birth: March 12, 1986 | age 37
Victim profile: Destiny Norton (female, 5)
Method of murder: Asphyxia due to suffocation
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Status: Sentenced to life in prison without parole on December 4, 2006
Craig Roger Gregerson (born c. 1986) is a Salt Lake City, Utah man convicted of the kidnapping and murder of five-year-old Destiny Norton on July 16, 2006.
Biography
Gregerson grew up the seventh of eight children in a Mormon family in Orem, Utah. According to his older brother Spencer, Gregerson "just seemed like a lazy person", and Spencer does not recall him graduating from high school.
He was previously employed by Radio Shack and a number of temporary staffing agencies. He was convicted of assault in December 2004 for punching his mother-in-law in the face, and other domestic violence incidents with his wife Catherine have been reported.
Murder
Gregerson resided in a duplex in downtown Salt Lake City that shared a yard with the house that Destiny Norton and her parents occupied along with a number of other people who were acquainted with each other from the drum circle scene in downtown Salt Lake City.
Norton was reported missing on July 16, 2006. The case earned national press attention, and police launched an investigation, and suspicion eventually focused on Gregerson.
Police search warrant affidavits revealed that Gregerson consented to an FBI polygraph test on July 24, 2006, and later signed a full confession, telling authorities he had been keeping the girl’s body in his basement for eight days.
Gregerson reportedly told FBI agent Steve Fillerup, the polygraph examiner, that he had been planning Destiny’s abduction "for some time" and that he had "made written plans" for the crime. Gregerson reportedly lured the girl into his row house unit, where she “panicked and began to scream", then "went limp" after he gagged her.
Gregerson carried the girl’s body into his basement and sexually assaulted her. He kept the body in a plastic container, and later purchased supplies to mask the odor coming from the basement.
Gregerson was charged with kidnapping and aggravated murder on July 27, 2006. Gregerson waived his rights to a speedy trial, and later waived his rights to a preliminary hearing which had originally been scheduled for October 3 and October 4, 2006.
In a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty, he plead guilty to capital murder and child kidnapping on December 4, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder, and fifteen years to life for the kidnapping. The sentences will be served consecutively.
VIDEO: The Sad and Tragic Case of Destiny Norton | https://youtu.be/Lcc_EIc79Qc
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