Utah murder suspect found dead near Joseph

Published 11:00 am Wednesday, August 17, 2022

JOSEPH — The body of a Utah fugitive who was wanted for murder is believed to have been found along Hurricane Creek Road west of Joseph, the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office reported in a press release Tuesday, Aug. 16.

Michael Grant Asman, 35, of Heber City, Utah, was wanted for the murder of Julie Ann Burns on July 14 in Wasatch County, Utah.

At about 1 p.m. Aug. 15, a sheriff’s deputy and Oregon State Police responded to a report of an abandoned 2005 Chevrolet Silverado pickup parked on the shoulder of Hurricane Creek Road near the trailhead. The license plate on the vehicle was registered to Asman. A Wasatch County warrant charged Asman with homicide, stating his whereabouts were unknown.

OSP Sgt. Grant Jackson and Wallowa County Deputy Sheriff Paul Pagano determined the vehicle had not been moved for some time. They searched through a wooded area to the creek and found a decomposing corpse with a gunshot wound to the head and a Glock model 27, 40-caliber Smith and Wesson pistol by the left shoulder of the road.

Wallowa County medical examiner Gary Zeigler responded to the scene.

Law enforcement officers from Wasatch County flew into the Joseph Airport and joined the investigation. They believed the corpse to be that of Asman.

Wallowa County Sheriff Joel Fish said it was a “domestic violence relationship.” He said Asman and Burns had been married, even though they did not share a surname.

According to Law and Crime online, when officers responded to a domestic violence call, they found Burns in her home apparently dead of a gunshot wound to the head.

The couple’s children were in the house at the time, Law and Crime said, and were sent upstairs while Asman and Burns argued. One child said Asman had a gun and they heard what they believed to be a gunshot. Asman led the children out and told them not to look at their dead mother.

A search warrant was issued by Circuit Court Judge Wes Williams on Asman’s pickup, which was then searched and towed. Fish said nothing significant was found during the search.