UT UT - Buddy Conti, 45, Kearns, 27 August 1981

Buddy, age 45, was the Pharmacist and owner of the Kearns Pharmacy located at 4188 West 5415 South at the time of his death.

At approximately 9:00pm on the evening of August 27, 1981, Buddy and a Sales Clerk were in the process of preparing to close the store for the night when a masked gunman entered the store. The suspect forced the clerk to the ground and demanded narcotics and cash, firing a shot in the process.

The demands were met and the suspect then forced Buddy and the clerk outside at gunpoint. The suspect told them both to run. They ran toward a field when the suspect opened fire, hitting Buddy. He died as a result of the wound.

The suspect is described as a Caucasian male, approximately 6’2” with straight black hair streaked with gray, almost collar length.

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With the information gathered by the Major Investigations Unit this year, detectives presented the case to the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office. The District Attorney’s Office found that there would have been probable cause to charge Gill and Dudley with Criminal Homicide and Aggravated Robbery, both first degree felonies carrying a sentence of 5 years to life. There is nothing to suggest anyone else was involved in this murder and the case will now be closed.

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Earlier in 2015, detectives re-examining the case learned that Richard Gill and Clyde Dudley had been planning to rob the drug store and during the robbery a shot was fired. Police later learned the cold case homicide stemmed from a robbery and put the two together.

The investigation into the murder went cold when charges couldn’t be brought against anyone. The press release states that Gill had fled Utah and was arrested in Springfield, Missouri. Dudley took his own life in 1983, and Gill passed away in Missouri in 2013 without ever having been brought to Utah to face charges.

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Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder said Friday that, over time, the case had essentially been forgotten through a series of missteps and mistakes.

"We must, frankly, offer an apology to the victims and their families for what can only be described as a failure to pursue justice in a timely and responsible way those many years ago," Winder said.

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Unified police detectives began re-examining the case about four months ago, detective Ben Pender said Friday. While there were some old leads to follow, investigators were mostly left to tie up loose ends and make decades-late apologies to the Conti and Atwood families.

"This has really had a really negative effect on their lives," said Pender, who has spoken to the families over the past several weeks.

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