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In 2016, Darwin Christopher Bagshaw from Colorado pleaded guilty to killing his girlfriend, 15-year-old Annie Kasprzak, from Utah, with a shovel in 2016 over a false pregnancy. Bagshaw was 14 years old at the time when he brutally struck Kasprzak in the face and head on March 10, 2012. The victim's body was discovered hours later in the Jordan River in Utah.
Kasprzak's case went unsolved for nearly two years, with false leads derailing the investigation until authorities came across evidence that connected her ex-boyfriend to the murder. Blood on Bagshaw's shoes and incriminating text messages led to his arrest in October 2014 in Colorado. It was also alleged that he admitted committing the murder to an inmate at a juvenile detention center.
Darwin Christopher Bagshaw was sentenced to 15 years to life for the crime and is currently serving time at Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison, Sanpete County.
Oxygen's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered revisited the 2012 murder of Annie Kasprzak in an episode titled The Girl With the Red Shoes, which aired on Tuesday, December 13, at 7 PM ET.
Darwin Christopher Bagshaw pleaded guilty to murdering his ex-girlfriend Annie Kasprzak
At the age of 18, Darwin Christopher Bagshaw was sentenced to at least 15 years in prison for the murder of this ex-girlfriend. While imposing the sentence in Salt Lake City, the court referred to the beating of 15-year-old Annie Kasprzak as being unspeakably brutal and cruel, given that when her body was found in 2012, it was beyond recognition and that DNA, a scar, and dental records were used to identify her.
Authorities claim that the incident occurred after Kasprzak informed him that she was pregnant the night before she was killed and that they needed to run away together. According to his defense attorney, Bagshaw struck her in the face multiple times with a shovel in a fit of rage. Tests, however, eventually revealed that she was not pregnant at the time and that the news was false.
Annie, who was a victim of child abuse, was adopted by the Kasprzaks at the age of 9 after spending time at multiple foster homes. According to mother Veronica Kasprzak, who read from her daughter's journal during the trial, stated that the girl was just starting to find herself when she was killed by the boy she genuinely loved.
According to CBS, Veronica further added:
"Her only mistake was falling in love with the hope of a future with you. You took her away from us because you thought she would complicate your life."
Darwin Christopher Bagshaw was given a 15-year sentence after pleading guilty to the murder in 2016
Annie Kasprzak was murdered in 2012, but the investigation was put on hold when police detained two ex-offenders following a false lead. However, authorities soon returned to Darwin Christopher Bagshaw, who had relocated to Grand Junction, Colorado, with his family by then.
The victim's family claimed that Bagshaw should spend the entirety of his 15-year sentence despite the defense's assertion that his reasonably normal teenage life in the time after the girl's murder and his arrest demonstrated that he wasn't likely to be violent again. The defense stated that he was too young and afraid at the time of the murder and asserted that the 15-year minimum was too harsh.
A 3rd District judge ultimately decided to impose a 15-year to life sentence, stating that it was a necessary punishment for the first-degree felony murder charge to which Bagshaw pleaded guilty in February 2016. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, he quietly apologized to the girl's family before the sentencing, saying,
"I'm very sorry for everything that happened. I want to apologize to Annie's family."
According to prison records, Darwin is currently serving his sentence at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison, Sanpete County, and will likely be eligible for parole in 2034.
Tune in to Dateline: Secrets Uncovered on Oxygen to learn more about the gruesome murder committed by Darwin Christopher Bagshaw.
