This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Charges were filed Tuesday against a Richfield man accused of killing and dismembering his wife.
Edward Donald Callison, 59, was charged in Richfield's 6th District Court with first-degree felony murder, second-degree felony obstruction of justice and third-degree felony abuse or desecration of a human body.
He made his initial appearance in court Tuesday, when he was assigned a public defender, Douglas Neeley.
Callison will appear in court again Dec. 2, when he is expected to decide whether he wants a preliminary hearing.
Callison's wife, 46-year-old Melanie Layton Callison, had been missing since Sept. 25. The husband had told her family that she had traveled to California, according to police.
But last week, detectives found what they believe to be the woman's dismembered remains at a camp site near Fish Lake.
That prompted investigators to question Edward Callison again last Thursday, and according to Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis, he "told detectives what had happened at the location of the crime scene." Curtis did not reveal details of that interview.
As of last week, detectives were still trying to nail down a motive for the crime.
"At this point, he has not said a single thing about why he did this," Curtis said last Friday.
Edward Callison filed for divorce against his wife of six months last week.
Sevier County prosecutors took the unusual step last week of asking the judge to seal the probable cause statement — a document that details the alleged criminals acts and supports the underlying charges.
Prosecutors argued that the probable cause statement needed to be kept private, claiming, "The investigation in this case is ongoing. Releasing the sensitive facts of this case to the public could impede the investigation and jeopardize tainting of the potential jury pool of Sevier County."
Judge Marvin Bagley signed the motion Friday, according to the court docket.
When asked about the sealed probable cause statement, Neeley said he hadn't seen the court record. He said the only document he had been given as of Tuesday was the charging information, which gives no details of the alleged crime beyond that prosecutors believe Melanie Callison died on Sept. 11.
Callison's previous criminal history includes January 2013 convictions of felony identity fraud and unlawful possession of a financial card, as well as misdemeanor unlawful use of the card. He served ten days in jail for the crimes and was released on a two-year supervised probation period, beginning in February 2013.
Callison is being held at the Sevier County Jail in lieu of $1 million cash-only bail.
Twitter: @jm_miller