Opinion ID: 2388141
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Relationship between the Fieldses and Palensky

Text: Linda and her husband, John Vernon Fields (John), owned the Silver Dollar Bar, a popular bar in Elko, Nevada. Jaromir Palensky was a frequent customer of the Silver Dollar Bar. In April 2002, Palensky went to prison for a felony DUI conviction. Prior to going to prison, Palensky contacted Linda and gave her power of attorney so she could take care of his affairs while he was in prison. During his incarceration, Palensky also instructed Linda to file his taxes, move his trailer so he would not lose it for lack of paying rent, and take out a new life insurance policy with Linda as the beneficiary. More than a year after his conviction, Palensky completed his term of incarceration. Approximately three months before his release, the Nevada Division of Parole and Probation contacted Linda to organize Palensky's early release. After meeting with Palensky's parole officer, Linda and John arranged to move Palensky's trailer onto their property. Palensky then worked and lived on the Fieldses' ranch until his disappearance in December 2003. The Fieldses alleged that, prior to his disappearance, Palensky made a will that made the Fieldses his heirs. A month after Palensky's disappearance, on January 14, 2004, his body was found floating face down in the Jordan River near Salt Lake City, Utah, by the Salt Lake County Sheriffs Department. Dr. Edward Leis, employed by the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office, performed an autopsy of Palensky's body and concluded that Palensky died of a combination of four blows to the back of his head inflicted by a blunt instrument. Dr. Leis testified that he could not be certain how long Palensky was in the water, but he could not deny that the body could have been in the water up to 24 days given the water temperature. Detective Brent Adamson, a detective with the Salt Lake County Sheriffs office, was in charge of identifying Palensky's body and the subsequent investigation into Palensky's murder. Adamson did not receive any leads regarding Palensky's death. The only people to contact Adamson were people Palensky knew many years prior when he lived in Carbon County, Utah. In Palensky's wallet, there was a phone number for the Fieldses, which Adamson called. John answered and told Adamson that Palensky was a former employee who left the ranch a month prior and told Adamson to call Linda for more information. A few days after the phone call, Adamson traveled to Elko and to the Fieldses' ranch where he spoke to the Fieldses in person. Linda and John provided Adamson with all of Palensky's documents, including his trailer registration. Linda also provided Adamson with an agreement between her and Palensky in which Linda agreed to pay off five debts for Palensky. John was present when Linda gave this document to Adamson. Adamson and the Fieldses discussed that on December 19, 2003, Palensky was so intoxicated during work that the Fieldses had to send him to his trailer. Later that evening lights were on in Palensky's trailer, but he was not there, and the Fieldses told Adamson that was the last time they saw Palensky. Adamson looked at Palensky's trailer but did not see anything suspicious. Eventually, the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office abandoned its investigation of the Palensky murder. Kevin McKinney, a detective with the Elko County Sheriff's Department, began investigating Linda after he was contacted by her brother, Mike Walker, and her sister-in-law, Niqua Walker, in September 2006. Mike and his wife, Niqua, moved onto the Fieldses' ranch in the summer of 2006. Prior to moving in with Linda, Mike was estranged from his sister for many years. In late July 2006, Linda told Niqua that she caught Palensky molesting her grandson in the shed and that she killed Palensky by hitting him in the head with a pipe. Niqua discussed this admission with Mike, and they decided to alert the police. John was not around when Linda allegedly confessed to Niqua that she killed Palensky. Thereafter, Mike and Niqua were evicted from the Fieldses' property for alleged drug use. Mike and Niqua contacted McKinney with information that Linda was involved in Palensky's murder. They told McKinney about Linda's confession to Niqua. Niqua told McKinney she did not believe Linda because Linda lies a lot. Thereafter, McKinney inquired into the prior police investigation in Salt Lake City. In October 2006, McKinney and the Elko County Sheriffs Department took over as primary investigators on the Palensky murder, with McKinney as lead investigator. McKinney set up a confrontation between Mike and Linda on November 22, 2006, by putting a body wire on Mike and instructing him to confront the Fieldses about Palensky's murder. As soon as Mike entered the property, John told him to leave, and Mike left. In November 2006, McKinney spoke to John at the sheriffs office regarding the death of Palensky. John told McKinney that he did not know about the death of Palensky but told McKinney that Patricia Grenz, a friend of the Fieldses, now owned the trailer Palensky lived in when he worked on the Fieldses' ranch. Grenz bought Palensky's trailer from its original owner after Palensky's disappearance. Thereafter, the police came to Grenz and took the trailer in which Palensky once lived in order to search it. The Fieldses also sold a red Toyota pickup to Grenz sometime before 2004. Previously, Mike and Niqua told McKinney that this pickup was used by the Fieldses to transport Palensky's body. McKinney conducted a search of Palensky's trailer and the red Toyota pickup. Linda was charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon and accessory to open murder with the use of a deadly weapon. Linda was convicted by a jury of murder in the first degree in the death of Palensky.