By Nathan C. Gonzalez
The Salt Lake Tribune
Copyright 2007 The Salt Lake Tribune
All Rights Reserved
WEST WENDOVER, Utah — The husband of a Utah woman killed in 2006 in West Wendover collected on a $105,000 life insurance policy and now faces a charge of first-degree murder in her death.
West Wendover Fire Capt. Jeremy Barrett Loncar, 30, was suspended without pay Tuesday pending the outcome of the case involving the death of Anna Marie Loncar, 30, who was raised in Centerville.
Jeremy Loncar surrendered to Nevada police without incident Monday and was released after posting $100,000 bail, said West Wendover Police Chief Ronald Supp.
The murder charge, filed in Elko Justice Court on Friday, was the result of a coroner’s inquest to determine whether foul play caused Anna Loncar’s death, said Elko County District Attorney Gary Woodbury.
Jeremy Loncar told police he found his wife dead in bed at their home when he came home about 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 8, 2006, Woodbury said.
“There was an autopsy that was done that said she likely died of a restrictive airway disease. That was the only medical finding the doctor made,” Woodbury said.
One form of the disease is asthma. However, she was never formally diagnosed with the illness.
During an inquest hearing, in which prosecutors put forth witnesses and evidence in the investigation, the panel determined the death was likely a homicide at the hands of Jeremy Loncar, Woodbury said.
However, the autopsy stated she died of natural causes, said Jeremy Loncar’s defense attorney, Donald Evans.
Following the death, the accused murderer volunteered for and passed a polygraph test, Evans said.
“This is the weirdest thing. Why is [Woodbury] going after this guy so hard? He’s not a lowlife transient or anything like that. There is no criminal agency involved in this.”
Coworkers of Anna Loncar testified during the inquest that she was a smoker who carried an inhaler and regularly coughed up phlegm, Evans said. One coworker even nicknamed her “Lung Butter.”
The autopsy also noted the muscles in her lungs were hypertrophic, which shows that Anna Loncar, who was an EMT, suffered a long-term illness, Evans said.
“Her lung muscles had been struggling for a while,” he said, noting that “she had passed out on a couple of calls.”
The couple were separated at the time of Anna Loncar’s death and she was living in the home with their two daughters. She had filed for divorce, but Jeremy Loncar had yet to be served with the papers, Evans said.
About two years before her death, she took out the $105,000 life insurance policy, which Jeremy Loncar knew nothing about, Evans said.
“New York Life did their own investigation and they paid,” he said. “That means they were satisfied.”
Anna Marie Loncar’s family in Centerville declined to comment publicly about the case.
Jeremy Loncar began working part-time with the West Wendover Fire Department in 1995 and became a full-time city employee in 1997, Fire Chief Jeffery Knudtson said.
Loncar was a “great” member of the department, Knudtson said.
A preliminary hearing in the case has yet to be scheduled in Elko Justice Court.