Prosecutors file sex abuse charges against Alex Whipple in the case of Lizzy Shelley

Alexander Whipple appears in 1st District Court for his initial appearance on Monday, June 3, 2019, in Logan, Utah. Whipple has been charged with five felonies including aggravated murder in connection with the death of 5-year-old Lizzy Shelley, who was found dead near her home on May 29 (Eli Lucero/Court Pool).

LOGAN — Prosecutors have released more details surrounding the death of Elizabeth “Lizzy” Shelly, one day after she was buried by her grieving family and the community. The sex abuse charges provide more graphic details surrounding the abduction and later murder of the 5-year-old girl from her Logan home.

Family photo of Elizabeth “Lizzy” Shelley (Courtesy: Teena Shelley).

A press release from the Cache County Attorney’s Office said prosecutors had received additional evidence from the Utah State Crime Lab, showing that Alex Whipple allegedly raped and sodomized the young girl before burying her body under debris, a half-block from her home. The additional information is leading to two more charges against the suspect, including rape of a child and sodomy of a child, both first-degree felonies.

The attorney’s office did not disclose exactly where and when the sexual assaults took place. They are also awaiting determination of Lizzy’s cause of death from the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office.

Whipple was arrested May 25 after Lizzy’s family called 911, reporting her missing. He had spent the night at their Logan home after staying up late, drinking and playing video games. Deputies report he had blood on his clothes that matched the young girl’s. Days later he agreed to tell police where her body was located, if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty in his case.

Tuesday afternoon, family, friends, and first-responders gathered to remember Lizzy during funeral services at Nyman Funeral Home. Family and members of the community described her as a child who loved everyone, and everyone loved her.

Whipple is scheduled to appear again in court June 24. In addition to the new charges, he faces capitol aggravated murder, child kidnapping, a second-degree felony, two counts of obstructing justice and abuse or desecration of a body, a third-degree felony.

Whipple remains in jail being held without bail. Prosecutors have said they intend to have him locked up for the rest of his life.


[email protected]

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

9 Comments

  • Free Bird June 5, 2019 at 5:55 pm Reply

    If this isn’t an evil creep, I don’t know what is! The more we learn about this sickening case, the more disgusting it gets. I feel like using other words in my anger but I will hold back.

  • Sara June 5, 2019 at 8:51 pm Reply

    Wow just wow. This guy needed help a long time ago. This is a tragedy for the girls family and his.

  • Chris Anderson June 5, 2019 at 10:53 pm Reply

    It’s a shame our tax dollars get to feed, house, clothe, and guard a piece of pond scum like that for the rest of his life. They should Never have taken the death penalty off the bargaining table. Mental capacity is no Excuse. He didn’t black out if he knew where he dumped her. A hard childhood is no Excuse either. May he burn in the hottest part of Hell Forevermore.

  • Aaron Kay June 6, 2019 at 8:04 am Reply

    “The rest of his life”, or a couple of weeks, whichever comes first. General Population please!

  • Corey D. Stephens June 6, 2019 at 10:22 am Reply

    If the government doesn’t make deals with terrorists then why does our system make deals with children killers ? Did this animal make a deal with his victim HIS niece? Put the death penalty back on the table and if he or his lawyers whine…remind them his innocent victim suffered and they should never forget that !!!!

  • M June 6, 2019 at 12:46 pm Reply

    So, where was Lizzie’s mother while her daughter was being raped and sodomized? Why was she not protecting her daughter?

    • Annelies June 6, 2019 at 4:31 pm Reply

      what an awful thing for you to say! where do you think she would have been HAD SHE KNOWN that this was happening. I don’t ever say this, but you are an idiot!

    • Russ Cazier June 9, 2019 at 4:38 am Reply

      Admin Please delete this horrible comment!

  • Sara June 7, 2019 at 9:02 am Reply

    I hope she was dead before he raped and sodomized her, she would be so confused and many other things that I won’t mention.

    Yeah that’s not cool to blame the mother.

Leave a Reply to Sara Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.