GUEST COLUMN: The death of Kristi Maxwell

By Sun Advocate

By James L. Davis
How do you recover from loss?
“In time,” some people might say, and in many cases that might be the only answer, as inadequate as it may seem. But in the loss of a loved one brutally snatched away, it is not the answer because there is no answer. It’s like losing a limb. You don’t heal from it; you learn to move on without it; to find a reason to live and perhaps even a reason to smile. But the loss is always there.
Such is the case with the family and friends of Kristi Maxwell. She was taken from us on July 17 and the time between then and now has been pain without measure and any comforting balm that could be provided has been denied.
As is the case in any tight-knit community, rumors travel at the speed of light, and that was certainly the case with Kristi’s death.
She was shot
She had a brain aneurysm
She died of a drug overdose
She committed suicide
The storm of gossip and innuendo swirled with fury and the voice of the authorities charged with seeking answers was strangely, echoingly, silent. A short news release was issued stating the very basics of the facts; that a welfare check request by her family had led to the discovery of her body and her husband, Richard Maxwell, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
And the rumors kept swirling.
On Aug. 17, one month after Kristi’s death and nine days after her husband committed suicide, the family of Kristi Maxwell met with the Emery County Attorney and Emery County Sheriff in a training room of the Emery County Sheriff’s Office where we were told more details than we probably wanted to know about what they discovered when they found our loved one’s body.
In light of what we were told, family members were baffled as to why authorities had not reported this as a murder investigation. We remain so still.
During the meeting with the county attorney and sheriff, we pled with them to release a clear statement that this was a murder investigation. It would do so much to calm the storm of rumors and speculation. County Attorney Mike Olsen assured us that he would draft a new release.
Throughout the meeting with the county attorney and sheriff, my eyes were continually drawn to the white board behind them. Scrawled upon it were quotes by men far greater than I ever hope to be. Eloquent words urging that we do the right thing, regardless of the consequences. Even before the meeting came to an end, I could see that they were not inclined to do so. History has, unfortunately, proven me right.
A month passed and no statement was made. In September, out of frustration from the silence, I drafted my own article and provided some of the details that the family had learned from the authorities about the death of Kristi. I held no delusion that a newspaper would actually publish the news release; my objectivity would clearly be suspect. But every word of the article was based on details related to us by the county attorney and sheriff. When completed, I sent the article to County Attorney Olsen and Sheriff Funk.
It was not well received. My father-in-law and the county attorney had a conversation shortly thereafter, and after the county attorney voiced his dissatisfaction with what he felt was the accusatory nature of my proposed article, the two of them reached an agreement that the county would release a news article about Krisi after the medical examiner’s report was finalized. My father-in-law asked that the family have patience and allow the county time to do the right thing. He is the patriarch, and we obliged his wishes.
The Office of the Medical Examiner released its examination report on Nov. 23. Her toxicology report was negative. She had no drugs or alcohol in her system. As for the promised news release, the county attorney remained silent.
On Dec. 20, Mr. Olsen finally sent a draft of a news release to my father-in-law. The fourth paragraph of the article was the only one to contain information that was not a regurgitation of facts already disclosed in previous statements from the county attorney’s office. This paragraph was a justification for the action, or inaction, of the county following the death of Kristi Maxwell.
The only paragraph from the proposed release by the county attorney to address the medical examiner’s opinion regarding Kristi’s cause of death was the last paragraph, and even it was a watered down version of what the examiner actually stated.
The medical examiner wrote: “The positioning of the body and events during the welfare check are strongly suggestive that a homicidal act had taken place. None of the findings described above would be life threatening. An asphyxia event, such as a smothering, cannot be totally excluded as causing this death.”
Of course, the family of Kristi Maxwell already knew this.
It has been, and apparently continues to be, the opinion of the county attorney that the evidence of Kristi’s murder was circumstantial in nature, which is why the insistence on waiting for the medical examiner’s report before making a statement.
The family learned first-hand much of the evidence gathered in the investigation of Kristi’s death. While much of it may, in fact, be circumstantial in nature, it remains damning evidence. To not act upon it, to not issue a warrant for Richard Maxwell’s arrest, in my mind, calls into question the judgement, courage, and competence of those elected officials responsible for the protection and defense of the people they serve.
“So, what do we want?” you may ask. “What will make this right in the minds of the family of Kristi Maxwell?” Well, nothing will make it right, honestly. Some things cannot be made right, and that is certainly the case here.
We have no axe to grind, no score to settle. We wish the family and friends of Richard Maxwell no ill will, they too are suffering. We certainly do not hold anything against the men and women of the Emery County Sheriff’s Office. They have a courageous and often thankless job to do, and we believe they carry out their responsibilities honorably.
We wish for only one thing, the acknowledgement of our loved one’s death by those in authority with an official statement of one sentence: “Kristi Maxwell’s death was a murder investigation.” It would, perhaps, be the shortest news release in history.
Such a statement would not undo the hurt, but it would do much in setting things right, as much as they can ever be set right. I can’t speak for our family, only myself. For me it is not about justice; it is not about revenge or even healing. It is about acknowledgement of what happened. Facing it, recognizing it, and stating clearly what the authorities already know, and have known from the very beginning. I believe that is much of the reason why this family continues to suffer. Because a great loss has taken place and those with authority to acknowledge it for what it was have refused to do so.
A statement from those in authority would be an acknowledgement that Kristi’s death was not a natural event, it was not an accident. She died fighting to live, because she had so much to live for.
That is all that we have ever asked for from the county attorney and sheriff’s office, the official utterance of that one sentence. We know there is nothing that could be done to save Kristi, the choices leading to her death had already been made and her future was forfeit. But to not acknowledge it does her memory an immeasurable disservice.
When we met with the county attorney and the sheriff in August they told us they were convinced Richard Maxwell would confess to the killing of Kristi, in time. He chose another path.
Since then it has been a series of stall tactics by the county on making a public statement. I believe it has less to do with awaiting evidence and far more to do with political expediency. To publically declare that Kristi was murdered would call into question actions, or inactions, taken after her death that I do not believe they want to answer.
And if that is indeed the case, as I suspect it is, it raises troubling questions. One elected office is sworn to protect, the other to defend. If they remain silent in publically stating the facts in this murder out of political expediency, ask yourself, if those put into office by your vote will do the same for you and your family, if the circumstances were similar?
Of course, that’s just my opinion, but this is the opinion page, after all.
Our family has faced ridicule for insisting upon a statement from the county. The county attorney has threatened one of Kristi’s daughters that “she doesn’t want to get on his bad side,” and the sheriff has called one of her sisters to leave her in tears by berating her with accusations that she was “stirring up trouble.”
Everything I have written must, of course, be taken with a grain of salt, and rightly so. I am a member of the family, and my objectivity must be questioned by the skeptic. But everything I have written also happens to be the truth, as far as we have been told by those in authority.
I have heard repeatedly over the past few months “why does it matter, what other people think?” I’ve heard it from members of Kristi’s own family. For me, it’s because it should matter. In the end, all we leave behind is our family, our friends and the lives we’ve touched; the kind words, the inspiration, the smiles and the love and the laughter and the wisdom. We leave behind only the memories of the person we were, to the end. That’s worth standing up for. That’s worth defending.
Kristi Maxwell died on July 17 at the hands of another. She was a mother, a daughter, a grandmother, a sister, and a friend. She died fighting to live.
(Davis is the brother-in-law of Kristi Maxwell.)