OGDEN — The day the body of Elgie Mills Jr. was found in a storage unit was laid out in court as detectives described how they came to suspect that Shawn Boehme was the murderer.

Boehme appeared in the 2nd District Court of Ogden on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing to determine if he could be bound for trial. Judge Brent West ruled there was enough probable cause to bind Boehme over for trial. After the hearing, Boehme’s defense team entered a plea of not guilty. 

Boehme is charged with first-degree felony murder, as well as two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.

On May 29, Mills’ body was discovered by Boehme’s wife in the storage garage they rented at 2930 Pennsylvania Ave. in Ogden. 

Witnesses testified they heard loud noises, like gunshots, the previous afternoon.

Boehme was a person of interest in the investigation, but had fled police and was found a week later.

The prosecution called on a state medical examiner and two Ogden City detectives to testify about their investigation. 

The crucial evidence was a surveillance tape that captured the events of May 28 and 29. Detective Jason Gardiner, of the Ogden Police, testified that the surveillance tapes came from a neighboring rental unit.

Gardiner described the contents of the tape, which showed Boehme and Mills go in and out of the storage unit from time to time, until they both went inside at one time. Around 3:26 p.m., Boehme is seen leaving the scene alone, shortly after the time witnesses reported hearing the noises.

The next day, Amy Boehme arrives and is seen opening the storage unit, then slowly backing away with her hand over her mouth after seeing what was inside.

Amy Boehme runs to the people in the neighboring storage unit to call for help, although she and the two neighbors did not call police until 12 hours later.

The lead detective, Arthur Mackley, said Amy Boehme claimed she was scared and wanted to talk to her husband first before doing anything. It was not explained why the two neighbors did not call police immediately.

In the storage unit with the body, a .38 caliber revolver, a sawed-off shotgun and a pair of bloody shoes were found. There was also a safe that contained meth, marijuana seeds and other paraphernalia.

State medical examiner Dr. Joseph White testified that Mills died from three gunshot wounds.

“Any one of those three wounds would have a significant likelihood of causing death,” White said.

Mills was shot twice in the upper chest and once in the head.

Mackley said that during post-Miranda interviews with Boehme, he admitted to shooting Mills with the revolver. He gave multiple inconsistent reasons to the detective as to why he did it. 

“He had three different reasons. Three inconsistent, separate reasons,” Mackley said.

He first maintained that he was angry because he thought Mills had raped his wife. Amy Boehme did have a black eye at the time of the incident, but said it was from a dog leash that hit her. 

He then said that Mills was threatening to take over the couple’s rental space, which was being leased by Boehme’s father at the time. Finally, he told detectives that Mills made an aggressive lunge for him, though there was no indication that Mills was armed.

During cross-examination, Boehme’s defense attorney questioned whether what Mills was doing was burglary, since Boehme had told Mills to leave the garage multiple times. The detective later said that was still no justification for Mills to be shot. 

Boehme has an extensive criminal history that dates back more than 25 years in Utah , with 34 cases in Weber, Davis and Salt Lake counties. Many of his cases involved vehicle and license violations, drug use and theft.

Boehme is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 3 for the setting of a trial date.

Contact reporter Andreas Rivera at 801-625-4227 or arivera@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @SE_Andreas.