South Jordan Couple Found Shot to Death
DJ
Tuesday, September 3, 2002
BY MATT CANHAM
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
A retired Utah Highway Patrol officer shot his wife to death early Monday,
then went to the basement of their South Jordan home and shot himself in the
head.
The murder-suicide took place just hours after police had cited and
released the man for domestic violence.
Larry Dale Hogan, 55, and his wife, Sharon, 47, had a neighborhood barbecue
Sunday night and into Monday morning in the Martingale Lane cul-de-sac. At 2
a.m., about 45 minutes after the barbecue ended, Sharon called police, saying
her husband was ''trying to beat her up'' and that she needed help.
Officers arrived and cited Larry Hogan for domestic violence and then
transported him to a nearby Denny's Restaurant, eventually releasing him into
the custody of a friend.
"We didn't feel we had anything to show that it [the domestic violence]
would continue," Assistant Chief Dan Pearson said Monday.
But after spending some time at the restaurant, Hogan persuaded the friend
to return him to the home.
South Jordan police were called to Martingale Lane again at 5:50 a.m. when
a neighbor reported hearing shots fired. They found Sharon Hogan lying on her
front porch, apparently shot three times. She died while being transported to
Jordan Valley Medical Center.
Police say it appeared she was attempting to leave the house when Larry
Hogan shot her.
Neighbors told police and a SWAT team responding to the scene that Hogan
was still in the house. Police evacuated homes around the cul-de-sac before
using a robot to enter the home. They found Hogan in the basement. He
apparently shot himself once in the head with a 9 mm handgun and was pronounced
dead at the scene. No one else was at the house.
Neighbors also told police that the couple had been drinking, but
authorities are waiting for toxicology reports.
Pearson said police have found no history of domestic violence and that his
officers followed procedure when they released Larry Hogan earlier in the
morning.
Residents in the community said the incident was out of character for
people who otherwise seemed like model neighbors.
"I am still in shock. I just don't understand any of it," said next-door
neighbor Jamie Beers, who was on vacation at the time.
Beers knew Larry Hogan for six years and Sharron for the roughly two years
the couple had been married. He described the couple as travel enthusiasts who
were the neighborhood "watchdogs."
Neighbor Brooke Hair said Larry Hogan regularly sat on his driveway and
greeted neighbors. He would fix children's bikes and recently mowed the lawn of
a neighbor when she was ill. The neighbors did not know Sharron Hogan as well,
but Beers described her as a "sweet gal with a cute British accent."
Residents were allowed to return to their homes at about 10 a.m. after the
SWAT team found Larry Hogan's body.
"It was just a tragedy,'' Hair said. ''The kids are having a hard time with
it because they liked [Larry] a lot."
http://www.sltrib.com/09032002/utah/767767.htm
"The gravest abuse of power - and the gravest threats to personal liberty and
security - are those in which the very individuals to whom we look for the
preservation of law and order turn out to be the predators."