15-Year-Old Girl Murdered On Phone With Mom After Walking Home From School

Salt Lake City, UT – A Utah mother could only listen in terror through her cell phone as her 15-year-old daughter was brutally murdered on the other end of the call on Monday.

Police said 15-year-old Baleigh Bagshaw had just gotten home from school and called her mother to check in at about 3 pm on May 9 when she was attacked and murdered, WSB-TV reported.

Salt Lake City Police Spokesman Sergeant Brandon Shearer said the check-in call was Bagshaw’s usual routine.

“While she was on the phone with her mother, she was brutally attacked while inside of her home,” Sgt. Shearer said. “Her mother heard the attack going on and then the phone went dead.”

“I can’t even guess what the mother would be going through right now. Our hearts and thoughts are with her and the whole family through this horrible ordeal,” he said.

Bagshaw’s mother immediately called the police and a neighbor to check on her daughter, Newsweek reported.

Police went to the residence and found the 15 year old, a student at West High School, dead inside the home, WSOC-TV reported.

“It was a very violent attack, so there’s quite a bit of evidence and it’s widely spread throughout the home and throughout the area,” Sgt. Shearer said. “We’re just making sure we’re taking our time and collecting all the necessary evidence to continue to investigate the case.”

Police quickly identified the teen’s boyfriend – 24-year-old Shaun French – as a suspect in Bagshaw’s murder.

Police said that French had previously lived in the home, but was not living there at the time of the murder, WSOC reported.

On Tuesday, an active warrant for French was issued that included three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and a $500,000 arrest warrant was issued, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

The charges stem from a relationship he had with Bagshaw, Sgt. Shearer said.

French was arrested by authorities in southeast Colorado late Wednesday morning, Newsweek reported.

Salt Lake City police did not release where French had been found, but the Otero County Sheriff’s Office tweeted that they had made the arrest, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.