West Jordan • A Utah woman who admitted to transporting a man’s body out of state in a stolen vehicle and committing a home invasion robbery was sentenced Tuesday to two to 30 years in prison.
Cherie Ann Clark, 45, of West Jordan, pleaded guilty in June to a misdemeanor count of theft by receiving stolen property and a felony count of desecration of a dead human body in one case, and two felony counts of robbery in an unrelated case.
Under a plea deal that covered both cases, one count each of obstruction of justice and theft and two counts of aggravated assault were dropped. Third District Judge Heather Brereton imposed prison terms totaling one to 15 years in each case and ordered that the sentences be served consecutively.
Charging documents in the robbery case say Clark and two males — one of them armed with a gun — forced their way into a Sandy apartment Aug. 19, 2016, and stole money and electronics.
In the second case, Clark was accused of attempting to move 31-year-old Bryce Lowry’s body to California in his vehicle after he died of an apparent drug overdose Oct. 2.
Family members reported Lowry missing Oct. 5. They said he was last seen on the evening of Oct. 2, when he left to visit Clark, according to an affidavit from a South Jordan Police Department detective. In addition, Lowry’s relatives reported that his Jeep had been stolen, the affidavit says.
That afternoon, Moapa River Indian Reservation police located the Jeep, which was occupied by Clark and 25-year-old Joshua Lee Zobel and contained Lowry’s body, according to the affidavit.
Clark told investigators she had sold Lowry methamphetamine and heroin, and that he had died outside her West Jordan residence. She and another man wrapped the body in a sheet and sleeping bag, then Clark covered it with her personal belongings, the affidavit says.
“Clark stated she decided to use this as an opportunity to take Bryce’s Jeep and move to California,” the affidavit says. “Clark picked up Zobel and began traveling towards California. Clark stated she did not tell Zobel about Bryce’s body in the vehicle until they reached southern Utah.”
The affidavit says Zobel told investigators the two were traveling to California to make a new start, and once Clark told him Bryce’s body was in the vehicle, they began planning how to dispose of it.
Zobel pleaded guilty to abuse or desecration of a body and was sentenced June 5 by Brereton to 365 days in jail.
On Tuesday, Lowry’s mother, Gaby Lowry, questioned why Clark took the body to the desert instead of a hospital. The mother also said Clark took away her right to say goodbye to her son.
In a letter to the judge, Elizabeth Allen said Bryce Lowry was dearly loved and that he had never given up hope that he could turn his life around.
“He dreamed of someday marrying and having kids of his own,” Allen, whose sister is married to Lowry’s brother, wrote. “He wanted to be able to have the chance to fix the things his addiction had torn apart. Cherie Ann Clark is the reason he cannot. She is the reason his potential will never be met.”