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A day after he was sentenced to up to 56 years in prison for crimes in Nevada, Utah authorities charged Logan McFarland with aggravated murder for the 2011 deaths of a Mount Pleasant couple.
McFarland, 24, was charged Thursday in Utah's 6th District Court with two counts of aggravated murder for the slaying of 70-year-old Leroy Fullwood and his 69-year-old wife, Dorothy Ann.
McFarland also was charged with one count of first-degree felony aggravated burglary and one count of first-degree felony aggravated robbery, along with second-degree felony burglary of a dwelling and theft of a firearm.
McFarland has long been the suspect of the December 2011 double-murder, but Sanpete County Attorney Brody Keisel said Thursday that he wanted to wait for Nevada authorities to adjudicate their case against McFarland and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Angela Atwood — also known as Angela Hill.
"I elected to wait until Nevada was completely finished up," he said.
Hill also was charged Thursday with the same counts as McFarland, minus the homicide charges.
No initial court appearance has been set for the couple as of Thursday. Keisel said authorities have to first extradite McFarland and Hill to Utah before the case can proceed.
"That [initial appearance] will be set when they are back on Utah soil," he said.
On Dec. 31, 2011 — the same day that the Fullwoods were found dead in their home — police say McFarland and Hill tried to carjack a woman's car outside a casino in West Wendover, Nev. After the victim fought off Hill and tried to speed away, she was shot in the head and was later hospitalized.
After the carjacking, police say the couple fled from West Wendover to Wells, and at one point led authorities on a high-speed chase along Interstate 80. The couple was captured by authorities on Jan. 3 after they were spotted crossing the Nevada desert on foot by a rancher checking on cattle from an airplane.
A Nevada jury found McFarland guilty of six counts stemming from the carjacking attempt during a February trial. The Elko Daily Free Press reports McFarland apologized during his sentencing Wednesday.
Hill pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, kidnapping and robbery relating to the botched carjacking and was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison last October.
In an arrest affidavit filed in 6th District Court that was briefly made public in January 2012 — it was later sealed — police alleged that on Dec. 29, 2012, McFarland allegedly drove around Mount Pleasant looking for a home to burglarize.
Mount Pleasant Police Chief Jim Wilberg said at that time that both suspects are drug users, and McFarland has previous arrests for burglary.
McFarland apparently selected the Fullwood home at random and, late Dec. 29 or early Dec. 30, had friends drop him off on a road behind the residence, according to the affidavit. It was then only a short walk through sagebrush to reach the home.
What exactly happened inside the home hasn't been made public, but the arrest affidavit alleges the home was ransacked, the contents of cupboards and closets "strewn" around the home. By the time McFarland left, both Fullwoods were dead.
The Fullwoods had been shot, according to a probable cause statement filed in court Thursday.
Friends picked McFarland up near the Fullwoods' home at about 1:30 a.m., Wilberg said. He said it did not appear that Hill was involved in the slayings, but was involved in other crimes with McFarland.
On Dec. 30, McFarland allegedly called a relative and told him that they needed to talk because "a 'mission' had gone south," according to the probable cause statement. Police allege that McFarland told the relative that he had "dispatched lives" in Sanpete County.
McFarland and Hill were also accused of burglarizing another Mount Pleasant home on Dec. 28, 2011. In that burglary, police allege that the couple went with another woman to a home to talk about buying a trailer. While the other woman spoke to the homeowner outside the house, McFarland and Hill went through the home and stole a purse, a laptop, two guns and two saddles.
McFarland was charged with burglary in January 2012 after police recovered jewelry allegedly taken from the slain couple's home, which McFarland allegedly had given to a friend.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Twitter: @jm_miller