Moab woman who served as lookout during murder gets prison

A woman who served as the lookout after a Moab murder is headed to prison.

Bluesette Elizabeth Ossana, 47, helped Brody Blu Kruckenberg dump the body of Gregorio Salazar Campos in the Colorado River last year, Grand County prosecutor Andrew Fitzgerald said Wednesday. Prosecutors also believe Ossana helped Kruckenberg get rid of Campos' blood.

Ossana pleaded guilty Jan. 7 to obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, for her role in Campos' death. A 7th District Court judge on Tuesday sentenced Ossana to spend one to 15 years in prison, court documents reveal.

Fitzgerald called the outcome of the case "sad all around" but added that Ossana's extensive past as a drug dealer in Moab "didn't leave the state a whole lot of options except to suggest prison."

Ossana also will serve concurrent time for an unrelated class A misdemeanor drug conviction.

The murder case began March 25, 2013, when Kruckenberg, now 17, shot and killed Campos. Prosecutors have described Campos as a known drug dealer in the community with possible ties to a cartel. They have also said Kruckenberg was a kind of "pawn" for several adults who wanted Campos — who also was dating Kruckenberg's mother — dead.

Fitzgerald said that soon after the shooting, Ossana — possibly a rival drug dealer to Campos — got involved when one of her children received a phone call from a friend telling them about the killing.

Ossana sprang into action. According to Fitzgerald, she told Kruckenberg and his friend Charles Anthony Nelson, also now 17, how to clean up the blood in the house where the shooting happen, suggesting they use a blue light and Clorox to get it all off the walls. Ossana then drove up and down the Colorado River looking for a place to dump Campos' body.

When the river was too crowded and the water too low to hide the body, Ossana stood as a lookout while the boys dropped it into a deep "hole" in the water.

Fitzgerald said Ossana also may have advised the boys to tie Campos' body to a car bumper so it would sink.

Campos' body was discovered in the river just north of Moab on April 7. Investigators began looking for the body after someone told police that Nelson had said he killed someone and provided information that led to the body.

Kruckenberg pleaded guilty in July to manslaughter and obstruction of justice, both second-degree felonies, and was sentenced to juvenile detention until he turns 21. Nelson — who initially took credit for the killing until investigators disproved his story — pleaded guilty to second-degree felony obstruction of justice. A judge sentenced him to juvenile detention until he turns 21.

Ossana's son, Thomas Dooley, 19, also was sentenced Tuesday for his role in the killing, receiving two years probation for a class A misdemeanor obstruction of justice conviction. Fitzgerald described Dooley's role in the killing as minimal, and said he had a scant criminal history.

Fitzgerald added Wednesday that the investigation into the case is ongoing and may result in charges against yet another person in the near future. In addition to Ossana, Kruckenberg, Nelson and Dooley, the case also earned Kruckenberg's mother, Corina Dawn Yardley, 44, two obstruction of justice convictions.

Fitzgerald said Wednesday the case proves that for those using or thinking of using drugs "there are some bad consequences at the end."

jdalrymple@sltrib.com

Twitter: @jimmycdii