In August of 2021, newlyweds Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner were tragically shot to death while camping in Moab, Utah. This week, investigators released their final update on the case, which was solved when Adam Pinkusiewicz, an early person of interest and suspect in the case, was found dead in Iowa.
Pinkusiewicz had a known “animus” toward lesbians, as Schulte’s family previously reported. Investigators revealed that an examination of his phone turned up “extreme signs of racism” and anger issues as well as fantasies about rape and murder. But there was something else that came to light; Pinkusiewicz himself was in a same-sex relationship with a man who he was “in love with”.
Authorities did not identify the “significant other” during Thursday’s briefing but said he was not in Utah at the time of the murders and the two had split up several months earlier. Pinkusiewicz reached out to him after the murders and traveled to Iowa to see him, investigators said.
They said he told them Pinkusiewicz had confessed to him about the murders and that he knew crime scene details that had not been made public – including that Schulte and Turner had been shot inside of a tent and moved outside to where Moab resident Cindy Sue Hunter found their remains four days later.
The investigation into the murders of Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner has come to an end with Adam Pinkusiewicz being held responsible for their deaths. As we mourn the tragic loss of these two young women’s lives let us all take a moment to remember them—honoring their memories by continuing the fight against hatred with kindness and understanding towards one another so we can create a better future for all people no matter who they are or who they love.
