A Utah man who claimed that his girlfriend was shot by an unknown assailant has been convicted of her murder.
Terence Trent Vos was found guilty of the 2021 aggravated murder of his girlfriend, Shandon Scott. The shooting happened while the couple were driving on I-80 and subsequently crashed, according to Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.
During his trial, prosecutors began quoting recorded jailhouse phone conversations Vos had in which he admitted shooting Scott. In the conversations recounted by the prosecutor, Vos tells people that he and Scott started fighting, she started stabbing him, and he shot her.
"You have no stab wounds, correct?" the prosecutor said.
"I did not have any stab wounds," Vos replied.
The night of the murder, a passing motorist stopped to help after Vos and Scott's vehicle crashed. Vos attempted to take the motorist's vehicle but was stopped. When police arrived and began tending to Scott, Vos ran away. After he was taken into custody, Vos told authorities that someone else had shot Scott.
"I am proud of the work done by our homicide team in one of the most brutal domestic violence attacks we have prosecuted. Though we could not provide perfect justice, if it was perfect Ms. Scott would still be alive today, we hope Ms. Scott's family and loved ones feel that this guilty verdict provides some measure of justice for their sister, daughter, and friend," Gill said.
