Utah killer extradited to Jefferson County in Golden man’s death
Drawn to Colorado by the lure of legal marijuana, Austin Jeffrey Boutain and his wife took a bus ride to Denver from Long Beach, Calif., before launching what police allege was a month-long, two-state crime string of crimes that left a Golden man and a Utah college student dead, Golden police records said.
Boutain, who was extradited Wednesday to Jefferson County to face firstdegree-murder and 18 other criminal charges, allegedly confessed to killing 63-year-old Mitchell Ingle in October 2017, according to a Golden Police Department arrest affidavit.
Boutain said in his confession that he shot Ingle with a crossbow and finished him off by slitting his throat, the affidavit said. He and his wife then fled to Utah, where they used a gun they stole from Ingle to kill University of Utah student Chenwei Guo. The husband and wife were trying to carjack Guo in Salt Lake City.
Boutain recently was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder in Guo’s death.
Boutain is being held without bail at the Jefferson County jail. Boutain is scheduled for an initial appearance at 9 a.m. Friday in Jefferson County Chief District Judge Philip McNulty’s courtroom, the arrest affidavit said.
His wife, Kathleen Boutain, is awaiting extradition on 20 counts in connection with Ingle’s death.
Golden police did not learn of Ingle’s death until the Boutains were arrested in Utah. A University of Utah campus police officer called Golden police to ask them to check Ingle’s trailer, the arrest affidavit said.
In the affidavit, Golden police wrote that Boutain had explained that he and his wife chose to move to Colorado because of its marijuana laws. The homeless couple lived in a tent in downtown Denver before moving to Lakewood and then Golden, the arrest affidavit said.
The couple survived by stealing marijuana from dispensaries and then selling the pot, which is how Boutain met Ingle at his trailer, which was parked along a walking path, the arrest affidavit said.
On Oct. 27, 2017, the Boutains were walking by Ingle’s trailer after Boutain stole a bottle of whiskey and offered Ingle a drink. They soon were drinking the alcohol and smoking marijuana inside Ingle’s trailer during a party that lasted late into the night, the affidavit said.
Boutain progressively got angry at Ingle after his host made repeated sexual statements about his wife, he told police. The last straw was when Ingle allegedly asked if they could all have sex together on the trailer floor. Boutain angrily rebuked Ingle. And when the older man went into his room to sleep, the Boutains allegedly hatched a plain to kill Ingle and steal his trailer, the arrest affidavit said.
Boutain said when he heard Ingle snoring he took a crossbow into the man’s bedroom and aimed at his head. But as he turned his head away to pull the trigger the arrow struck Ingle in the wrist, the affidavit said. Ingle yelled and went into the bathroom. Boutain crept into the bathroom with a Spyderco folding knife he had stolen earlier in the week from a Golden shop, the arrest affidavit said
“Mitchell was reaching in a medicine cabinet for something when Austin said he grabbed him by the hair, pulled his head back, and slit his throat with a knife,” the arrest affidavit said.
The Boutains decided not to take Ingle’s trailer because it was “too messy with blood and he really didnotknowhowtoproperly hook it up to the truck,” the arrest affidavit said.
The Boutains then stole three guns from Ingle, including a Ruger .44 Magnum handgun, prescription medications, blankets, clothes, food, money and a pickup, the arrest affidavit said. When they reached Salt Lake City, they gave the pickup to another homeless couple, the arrest affidavit said.
They were searching for another means of transportation when they spotted Guo in Red Butte Canyon in Salt Lake City, the arrest affidavit said.
Boutain told police he was wearing Ingle’s clothes when he shot Guo, the report said. The gun had been Ingle’s too, the arrest affidavit said.