This is the saddest post of my mission. Sister Jeppson left our mission just in time to get home to her family in December. I had the great privilege of working with her in our ward and in the Glen Loch ward. She was an amazing and dedicated young woman who loved the Lord. We went to discussions together, ate together, laughed and loved together. I know our Heavenly Father has more work for her to do in His kingdom but we will miss her tremendously until we meet again.
Jazmyn Jeppson of Farmington suffered fatal injuries after her vehicle was struck by the one driven by 27-year-old Anthony Cruz, who had allegedly committed two carjackings and was fleeing from police.
According to a statement of probable cause filed in court Friday, Cruz has been charged with one count of first-degree felony murder for the death of Jeppson. Cruz also faces three counts of aggravated robbery as first-degree felonies.
The statement alleges Cruz carjacked a vehicle in Kaysville Monday, but it broke down a short time later on a Centerville freeway. He attempted another carjacking at knifepoint, which failed. In the next attempt he dragged the victim out of their car before driving off.
The document states Cruz fled at high speeds, and when exiting the freeway at Parrish Lane he ran a red light and struck Jeppson's car.
Jazmyn Jeppson
Jeppson was killed in the crash. Cruz suffered injuries and was taken to a hospital before he was booked into jail.
At a press conference announcing the charges, Jeppson's uncle spoke about Jazmyn.
"Jazmyn lived life to the fullest, she would want the focus to be on faith, family & forgiveness," he said.
CENTERVILLE — The "best of the best."
That's how some who knew Jazmyn Jeppson, 21, remembered the recently returned missionary on Tuesday, a day after she was broadsided and killed on Parrish Lane in Centerville by a man who police say was trying to get away after carjacking two vehicles.
"She is pure gold. She is as sweet and as pure as they come. There is no better," Jeff Ostler, Jeppson's LDS stake president, said Tuesday. "She's a special, special woman that we can all use as an example in our lives."
Jeppson graduated from Davis High School and attended BYU-Idaho before serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Houston, Texas. She returned on Dec. 16.
The Farmington woman began working at the reception desk of Stout Building Contractors in Centerville in January. She was driving home from work on Monday when she was hit and killed by a vehicle driven by Anthony Santos Cruz, 28, of Bountiful, that slammed into her, according to police.
Cruz remained hospitalized Tuesday. Kaysville Police Lt. Kenton Pies declined Tuesday to release Cruz's condition, noting only that he was expected to survive.
A woman who was with Cruz, Michelle Jennifer Vigil, 22, of West Valley City, was booked into the Davis County Jail for investigation of aggravated robbery.
Despite being "heartbroken" over losing his daughter, Jeppson's father has already forgiven Cruz, according to President Ostler.
"He wants this young man and the family of this young man to know that they have no hard feelings, that they are full of forgiveness and they wish nothing but the best for this family," he said.
A happy person
Jeppson was a woman known for having a big smile, according to her friends. She enjoyed volleyball as well as hiking and being in the outdoors.
"She had a very infectious smile and just a happy, positive approach to life. It was contagious how positive it was," said Jeppson's bishop, David Francis. "If life was a smorgasbord, Jazmyn was eating with both hands."
A devout Mormon, since returning from her mission, Jeppson recently received a new calling involving family home evening, and friends said she was excited about starting the next chapter in her life.
"She told her mother just the other day she is so happy. She's never been happier," President Ostler said, adding that the woman's family is being "as strong as anybody could."
He said their faith will help them get through the tragedy, knowing that Jeppson is now continuing her mission work elsewhere. "The things that they believe, the things that they know, they know Jazmyn is in a good place. They know that a person can't be any more ready to meet their Father than Jazmyn Jeppson is," the stake president said. "The way this family is handling this is an example to all of us as well."
