Family of slain Utah woman supports plea deal if it includes life without parole

SOUTH JORDAN — The family of Summer Tatiana Roney, killed in Herriman on New Year's Eve 2024, said it would support a plea agreement in the case if it guaranteed the man charged would spend the rest of his life in prison, KSL reported Thursday 1. Roney's sister, Michelle Tischner, put the condition in one sentence: "Nothing less than life without parole" 1.

The statement came as Jacob Holt Johnson was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Thursday at 8:30 a.m. before Judge Richard Daynes at Third District Court in West Jordan, according to court records 1. Johnson is charged with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and abuse or desecration of a dead body and possession of a weapon by a restricted person, third-degree felonies 12.

Roney's body was found on Dec. 31, 2024, in a box in the back of a Jeep parked at a 7-Eleven at 15871 S. Redwood Road in Bluffdale, with Johnson unconscious in the driver's seat, according to charging documents 12. A Bluffdale police officer had noticed the SUV parked at an angle across several spaces shortly after midnight, FOX 13 reported 3. Detectives determined she had been killed in Herriman and served a search warrant at Johnson's residence there 2. When the charges were filed, prosecutors described her death and the condition in which her body was found as "especially heinous and cruel" 2.

The case has taken nearly two years to reach a preliminary hearing. After the charges were filed, Johnson was held without bail on the aggravated murder count, FOX 13 reported 23. Tischner said the wait has been difficult. "We are talking about torture that went on for hours," she said. "And I have to live with that. Summer lived it. Jacob was the last person she saw and that breaks my heart every day" 1.

Tischner said she served as her sister's legal guardian and described her as a vulnerable adult with cognitive limitations. "She really was like an innocent child," she said 1. She also said she believed Johnson took advantage of her sister during their relationship: "He absolutely preyed on her. He had so much strength over her" 1.

Charging documents describe a relationship that friends told police had been on and off for about four years. One friend told investigators that Roney had confided Johnson was verbally abusive and had hit her multiple times, according to KSL's account of the probable cause statement 2. Another friend told detectives Johnson had recently put her in a chokehold, FOX 13 reported from the same documents 3.

The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office declined to discuss the specifics of any potential plea negotiations 1. District Attorney Sim Gill said prosecutors remain open to every outcome. "On every prosecution, we are open to any outcome, anything from a trial to any disposition," Gill said in a statement. "It would be speculative for me to say at this moment what will happen tomorrow or the week after. We are always exploring all the options we have to bring a measure of justice for the prosecution and our victims" 1.

The Utah News wire carried KSL's report Thursday morning, crediting KSL and labelling it single-source 4.

The charges are allegations. Johnson has not been convicted of them, and the case stands at the preliminary hearing stage 12. Tischner said what she wants from it is narrower than a verdict. "I hope she is flying high. I don't even want her there with me in the trial because I still don't want her in the same room as him," she said. "So, justice would be that he never gets to harm anybody again" 1.

Roney was also known as Summer McKell; her legal last name was McKell, and her family said she preferred Roney 12.

KSL's report listed support services for people in abusive relationships: the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition's 24-hour confidential hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465), YWCA Utah Survivor Services at 801-537-8600, and the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 1.