Moab woman pleads guilty to obstructing justice in homicide investigation
by Lisa J. Church
Staff Writer
Jul 11, 2013 | 4196 views | 0 0 comments | 79 79 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Corina Yardley waits in court on April 23. Photo courtesy of Geoff Liesik, KSL News
Corina Yardley waits in court on April 23. Photo courtesy of Geoff Liesik, KSL News
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A Moab woman pleaded guilty this week to two misdemeanor counts of obstructing justice in connection with the March shooting death of Gregorio Salazar Campos. In a written statement submitted to 7th District Court in Moab, Corina Dawn Yardley, 44, said she lied to police on two separate occasions during questioning by detectives who were investigating Campos’ disappearance and death. Yardley was Campos’ girlfriend.

In April, Grand County Attorney Andrew Fitzgerald charged Yardley with two second-degree felony counts of obstruction of justice. On July 8, Fitzgerald reduced both charges to class A misdemeanors.

Fitzgerald told the court he amended the charges because, as the investigation has moved forward, it appears Yardley’s role “is significantly reduced.”

Two Moab teens, Brody Blu Kruckenberg, who is Yardley’s son, and Charles Anthony Nelson, were charged April 8 as adults with one count each of first-degree felony murder and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony in the slaying of Campos, 33. Nelson and Kruckenberg were 16 years old at the time of their arrest on April 7. Both teens turned 17 in May.

Campos’ body was discovered April 7 in the Colorado River just north of Moab.

Investigators have said Campos was shot three times in the head on March 25 as he slept in Yardley’s bed at her mobile home on Riversands Road, according to a probable cause statement released in April by the Grand County Sheriff’s Office.

Nelson was allegedly persuaded to fire the gun by his friend, Kruckenberg, according to the probable cause statement.

An informant told sheriff’s investigators that Nelson claimed that on the day of slaying, Kruckenberg had contacted him saying Campos was asleep and asking Nelson to come over, according to the probable cause statement.

The informant claimed Nelson told him that Kruckenberg said, “Let’s kill him,” but that Kruckenberg could not do the killing and asked Nelson to do it, according to the documents. Nelson then allegedly told the informant that he pointed the gun through a crack in the doorway of Yardley’s bedroom and shot Campos three times, according to the probable cause statement.

Investigators had alleged that Yardley cleaned blood from the wall and the carpet in the bedroom and helped the boys dispose of Campos’ body by allowing them use her truck. She also had allegedly removed the mattresses and bedding from the bedroom and bought a new mattress shortly after March 25, according to information in another probable cause statement.

Campos’ sister had contacted the Moab City Police Department on March 29 to report her brother was missing. That day, city police interviewed Yardley, who was Campos’ girlfriend, and she said she had last seen Campos earlier in the day on March 25 at her home, according to a Moab City Police report. Yardley told police that Campos was gone when she returned home from work and she had not seen him since.

“I lied when the cops asked me about my son,” Yardley wrote in her July 9 statement to the court. “I knew they were investigating him for a crime.”

Yardley’s attorney, Happy Morgan, said during Tuesday’s court appearance that since her April 8 arrest Yardley has given more than six hours of interviews to detectives and also has been interviewed by Fitzgerald.

“I regret my mistake of lying to the officers and I’ve tried to make up for it,” Yardley told the judge.

During the July 9 hearing, Anderson sentenced Yardley to 90 days in Grand County Jail with credit for time served. She was released later on Tuesday, according to jail commander Veronica Bullock.

Anderson also ordered Yardley to pay fines and fees totaling $1,016 and $250 in court-appointed attorney fees. He also ordered her to cooperate with law enforcement and to provide testimony, if requested, in any relevant court proceedings.

Anderson told Yardley that if she did not fulfill all requirements of her probation she could face up to two years in jail.

Preliminary hearings for Nelson and Kruckenberg are scheduled for Sept. 25 at 9 a.m.
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