By Tracie Sullivan, For Iron County Today
Matthew Sorber-Petrie was not in the truck when 12 shots were fired at 17-year-old KayLee Dutton. Still, an Iron County jury decided he was responsible for her murder.
Following a four-day trial, jurors convicted Sorber-Petrie, 24, of murder, five counts of felony discharge of a firearm causing serious injury and obstruction of justice. He was acquitted of two additional firearm charges related to injuries suffered by KayLee’s best friend, Sydney Neal.
For KayLee’s mother, Kimberlee Dutton, the verdict brought the accountability she had fought for since her daughter was killed Jan. 17, 2025.
But the relief carried a painful reminder.
“I feel like she can finally be at peace now that this is taken care of,” Dutton said. “It just feels lighter, but also crappy because it’s also a reminder that at the end of this, she’s still not here.”
The night Kaylee was killed, she and Neal had spent that Friday doing what they often did: driving around, listening to music and picking up snacks.
Iron County Attorney Chad Dotson told jurors KayLee had recently bought her red Chevrolet pickup with money she had saved. The two girls regularly drove through a townhome neighborhood where KayLee had once lived and where some of their friends still resided.
What they did not know was that inside one of those townhomes, Sorber-Petrie and his roommates had become convinced the girls were stalking them.
Prosecutors argued Sorber-Petrie was the source of that fear.
They said he interpreted ordinary events, including unfamiliar vehicles, misdelivered packages and phone notifications, as evidence someone was watching or tracking him.
And he believed the person he was looking for drove a red truck.
“Every coincidence became proof that someone was after him,” Dotson told jurors during opening statements. “And he didn’t keep the concerns to himself. He made sure his roommates knew about it and that they were concerned too.”
The men began discussing how to confront the perceived threat, including plans involving firearms and tactical positions around their home.
On the day KayLee was killed, Sorber-Petrie told a co-worker he might be “dead or in jail” the following day because he intended to go into the desert with a gun and wait for the person he believed was stalking him, Dotson said.
Earlier that evening, Sorber-Petrie and Galloway drove to Three Peaks with multiple firearms, including the rifle later used to kill KayLee.
Prosecutors said they waited for the person they believed was stalking them and later drove around looking for a red truck before returning home.
Later, Sorber-Petrie spotted KayLee’s pickup near the townhomes and alerted his roommates.
Galloway and Michael Hess-Witucki got into a black Chevrolet truck and followed KayLee and Neal.
Hess-Witucki drove. Galloway fired 12 rounds into the driver’s side of KayLee’s pickup.
Five bullets struck KayLee.
Neal was injured by shrapnel and tried to save her best friend after the truck crashed through a fence near Midvalley Road.
During the trial, Neal told jurors she and KayLee did not know Sorber-Petrie or any of his roommates.
She also described the close bond she shared with KayLee and the time they spent together.
“We were like sisters,” Neal testified.
Jurors heard the 911 call Neal made after the shooting and watched body camera footage showing deputies and other responders attempting lifesaving measures.
Galloway and Hess-Witucki, both of whom previously pleaded guilty to murder and are serving prison sentences, testified during the trial.
The central question for jurors was whether Sorber-Petrie could be convicted of murder even though he did not go with them and did not fire the weapon.
Prosecutors said his role began long before the chase.
“The defendant was not there when KayLee Dutton was murdered, but he did not need to be an actor in the scene to receive credit for being the producer, the writer and the director of that scene,” Chief Deputy Iron County Attorney Shane Klenk said during closing arguments.
Klenk argued Sorber-Petrie fueled his roommates’ fear, supplied the firearms and set the confrontation in motion.
“The entire stalker narrative was wholly and completely created and started by the defendant, Matthew Sorber-Petrie,” Klenk said. “He manufactured an enemy where none existed.”
Dotson described the prosecution’s theory more directly during his opening statement.
“The rifle that killed KayLee Dutton was in the hands of Ethan Galloway,” he said. “But the hand behind the rifle was Matthew Sorber-Petrie.”
Prosecutors said Sorber-Petrie helped conceal evidence after the shooting, including changing parts on the rifle and participating in the cleanup of shell casings.
Crime scene investigator Mickelle Croft testified that 12 bullets struck KayLee’s truck. Nine shell casings were found in an ammunition can inside the suspects’ townhome, two were recovered from the truck used in the chase and another was found near the shooting scene.
Jurors heard testimony from Skyler King, a former co-worker who said Sorber-Petrie told her the morning after the shooting that he had gotten the best night’s sleep he had in a long time.
Klenk told jurors that reaction revealed Sorber-Petrie’s state of mind.
“He was relieved,” Klenk said. “He wanted someone to die. And when someone did die, he was happy and relieved.”
Defense attorney Ryan Nielsen disputed that Sorber-Petrie planned the killing or directed his roommates to shoot.
He told jurors Galloway accepted responsibility for pulling the trigger and testified there was no plan to kill anyone.
“The interesting thing in this trial is the actual murderer testified,” Nielsen said. “He told you what happened that night in his own words.”
Nielsen acknowledged Sorber-Petrie believed he was being stalked, owned the firearms, saw KayLee’s truck and helped conceal evidence afterward. But he argued those facts did not establish that Sorber-Petrie intended for anyone to be killed.
“Seeing a vehicle you fear belongs to your stalker is not intending anyone’s death,” Nielsen said. “What turned an observation into a tragedy was a chain of choices Matthew did not make.”
He said Galloway and Hess-Witucki made their own decisions when they followed KayLee and opened fire.
“Pointing at a car is not pulling the trigger,” Nielsen said.
The jury deliberated for approximately 2½ hours before returning guilty verdicts on seven of the nine felony charges.
Galloway was previously sentenced to 15 years to life for murder, plus five consecutive terms of five years to life for firearm offenses. Hess-Witucki received 15 years to life for murder and an additional consecutive term of five years to life.
A fourth defendant, Aldric Felipe, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and a firearm offense. His prison sentence was suspended, and he was placed on probation.
In a statement released after the verdict, Dotson thanked the jurors, prosecutors, investigators, victim advocates and law enforcement officers who worked on the case.
“At the center of this case is KayLee,” he said. “She was 17 years old, with a lifetime still ahead of her. No verdict can bring KayLee back or undo the devastating loss suffered by her family and those who loved her.”
For Kimberlee Dutton, the guilty verdict brought an emotional shift she had not anticipated.
“Yesterday was such a high,” she said, speaking about the day of the verdict. “It was so good, and we felt so, so light. And then today it just feels so heavy.”
For more than a year and a half, she had focused on fighting for her daughter and making sure everyone involved was held accountable.
At times, she said, it felt as though proving what happened might somehow bring KayLee back.
“It kind of just feels like I’m playing this game with these men in suits, and I’m just fighting for her to come back,” Dutton said.
The verdict allowed her to release some of what she had carried throughout the case.
“I feel like I can cry now,” she said. “I feel like I’ve had to hold so much in. I finally feel like I can let it out a little.”
Fifth District Judge Meb Anderson initially scheduled Sorber-Petrie’s sentencing for Sept. 29, although Dutton said the hearing may be moved because her husband will not be available that day.
For now, she is left with the reality of what even justice cannot change.
“It’s the end,” Dutton said. “But she’s still not here. So I’m left with this feeling of, where is she?”