Month: November 2025

A Utah man who was spared execution this fall after developing dementia during his 37 years on death row died Wednesday of apparent natural causes, according to the state’s Department of Corrections.

Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, was set to die by firing squad in September, but the Utah Supreme Court blocked the impending execution in August after his attorneys argued his dementia had become too severe.

A judge had scheduled a new competency hearing for mid-December to reevaluate his mental state.

Menzies was convicted of abducting and killing 26-year-old mother of three Maurine Hunsaker near Salt Lake City in 1986. Her body was discovered two days later.

Her husband, Jim Hunsaker, told The Associated Press he felt a “happy feeling” when he heard Menzies had died, and as though 100 pounds had been lifted off him.

“I think a lot of it is going to be just healing now,” he said. “I don’t think there was a day that I didn’t think about it.”

He expressed frustration about how the state’s judicial system handled the case, saying his family for decades has experienced “one disappointment after another.”

“It seems like everything went his way,” he said.

Menzies would have been the seventh US prisoner executed by firing squad since 1977, when the US reinstated the death penalty. He selected the method when given a choice decades ago.

The Utah Supreme Court said this summer that the progression of Menzies’ disease raised a significant question on his fitness to be executed. A state medical professional agreed in a new mental competency report published this month, saying Menzies lacked a rational understanding of why he was facing execution.

He’s one of numerous US prisoners who have died naturally while on death row.

More than half of all prisoners sentenced to death in the US spend more than 18 years awaiting execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said he hopes Hunsaker’s family will finally have some closure and peace.

Menzies abducted Hunsaker from a convenience store where she worked on February 23, 1986, while he was on parole. She later called her husband to say she was robbed and kidnapped, and that her abductor intended to release her. Days later, a hiker found her body at a picnic area about 16 miles away in Big Cottonwood Canyon. She had been strangled and her throat was slashed.

“For decades, the state of Utah has pursued justice on her behalf. The path has been long and filled with pain, far more than any victim’s family should ever have to endure,” Brown said.

Police say Hunsaker’s thumbprint was found in a car that Menzies was driving, and her purse was recovered in Menzies’ apartment. Menzies also had her wallet and other belongings when he was jailed on unrelated matters.

“We’re grateful that Ralph passed naturally and maintained his spiritedness and dignity until the end,” his legal team said in a statement.

Utah’s last execution played out by lethal injection just over a year ago. The state hasn’t used a firing squad since the 2010 execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner.

Kalima Watson is an ancestry detective, and he wants to help you get in touch with your family history because he knows it can change your life.

It shifted his.

“When I delved into my own ancestry, it was life-changing,” he said. “I learned about their stories, the hard things that they did, some of the difficulties that they’ve gone through, challenges that they overcame, and just knowing that helped me to feel like I could draw on their power and then face hard, difficult things as well.”

It encouraged Watson to push himself, to take some chances. He got a tattoo and went on a fitness journey, all because he felt “empowered” by his ancestors.

He learned of one relative who was originally from Africa but ended up in Hawaii, and how his life played out there. He also learned about Scandinavian ancestors who traced back to Vikings.

“It made me feel like it’s something that everyone should have access to,” he said, “because if it could be that empowering for me, imagine what it could do for the world.”

About a year ago, Watson started making videos about some of his ancestors. In May, he began building a fanbase, and within a week, he said, his Instagram follower count shot up from from 700 to 100,000.

“To me,” he said, “it [was] a sign that people are interested in their ancestry and that it can be empowering.”

Now, Watson creates a steady stream of videos on social media so others can learn about their family history. He’s amassed nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram under his account, @justkalima.

The Eagle Mountain resident is also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a faith that places a high value on the study of family history. The church describes its FamilySearch library as “one of the largest genealogical libraries in the world.”

Watson uses tools like FamilySearch and Ancestry to help gather documentation and research people’s ancestry. Then, he said, he uses ChatGPT to help with the story-building aspect and get a sense of what was going on in the world during the time that ancestor was alive.

In his videos, Watson dons a medieval knight look, ready to share tales. “People like characters,” he said of his attire, which consists of chain mail and small, round glasses.

“What caught me off guard is, the first probably 10 or 15 videos that I made, nobody mentioned it,” Watson said. “They just kind of accepted that that was the person they were watching. At this point it’s part of the brand, but initially it was just to be goofy and memorable.”

These days, most of the videos Watson makes are for his followers.

Some of the things he has discovered include one follower’s ancestor “who took a bullet in the Civil War and then switched sides,” another whose relative nearly revived an ancient kingship in Ireland, and another who helped build the foundation of modern politics in Greece.

Some followers come to Watson with as little information as their family members’ names, while others might know a thing or two about their family’s past already.

Shane Purdue, a follower from Dallas, Texas, who discovered Watson’s account “by chance” scrolling through Instagram Reels, already had an ancestral family free set up, but Watson helped him unlock new stories he’d never heard before.

“I briefly explained to him a little bit about my great-grandfather and his time serving in the war, and he expanded on that and found all this extra information,” Purdue said. “[He] found a bunch of records, escape and evasion reports, which we were not aware of at that time.”

Purdue showed his grandmother the video, who was “very excited” to learn more about her dad.

Watson said he hopes his videos can not only help people learn about their family histories, but also encourage younger people, who may be less inclined to dig into the past, to get in touch with their roots.

“That’s kind of the whole reason behind it,” he said, “to change that narrative.”

Note to readers • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.

Radon Global Leader Empowers Utah Communities with Access to Life-Saving Radon Detection Technology

San Jose, California – November 25, 2025 – Ecosense®, a global leader in radon detection technology, is happy to report the continued success and expansion of its Library Lending Program now in Utah. This revolutionary community initiative allows Utah residents to borrow high-quality radon detectors from their local libraries. With six library partnerships now in place throughout the state, this program demonstrates Ecosense’s profound understanding of the value of community cooperation and its commitment to ensuring that everyone has access to clean indoor air.

At Eagle Mountain Library, as well as partner libraries in Salt Lake City, Provo, and other Utah communities, local families have embraced the chance to use Ecosense’s award-winning technology to monitor their homes for radon — the leading cause of lung cancer in people who have never smoked. The program’s success has been particularly noteworthy. Residents can experience real-time radon monitoring by borrowing an EcoBlu device. Through this initiative, the community is empowered to make simple, life-saving changes by gaining hands-on experience and practical knowledge about radon risk in their daily lives.

“This initiative highlights what we value most: the trust and enthusiasm of communities who share our commitment to healthier living,” said Insoo Park, CEO of Ecosense. “By working hand in hand with local libraries, we’re able to turn technology into a shared community resource that protects families and strengthens the fabric of public health.”

Since its inception, the Ecosense Library Lending Program has grown rapidly, becoming a model for public-private collaboration in environmental health. With Ecosense’s rapid, accurate, and easy-to-use detectors, partner libraries across Utah can now take proactive steps to create safer indoor environments. Homeowners will now have access to state-of-the-art radon detection technology thanks to the efforts of their local librarians, educators, and community leaders.

“We have been very pleased with our community’s response to our Ecosense EcoBlu Radon Detectors. We received 12 detectors in July of 2024,” stated Michele Graves, Director of Eagle Mountain Library. “And we have had over 250 checkouts of those. Radon is a big issue in our area, and having these kits has been a great resource for our patrons.”

Ecosense is thankful for the state of Utah’s continued support in our joint effort to stop the spread of lung cancer and continue our fight against radon.

For more information about Ecosense or its products, please visit www.ecosense.io. For all other press inquiries and requests, please contact Thomas Mustac, Senior Publicist at Otter PR, at thomas.mustac@otterpr.com.

About Ecosense®

Based in Silicon Valley, Ecosense® is a leader in smart radon detection technology, providing accurate, real-time monitoring solutions for professionals and consumers alike. Its patented ion chamber technology — validated by the University of Michigan and Kansas State University Radon Chamber — delivers research-grade accuracy in minutes, not days. Ecosense’s innovations, including the EcoQube® (TIME’s 100 Best Inventions of 2021), EcoBlu™, and EcoQube Flex™, continue to redefine standards for health-focused environmental sensing worldwide.

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Thomas Mustac

Otter Public Relations

thomas.mustac@otterpr.com

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