Heidy Truman: The Shooting, Acquittal, and Civil Rights Lawsuit

The Heidy Truman case is the Utah criminal matter in which 25-year-old Heidy Aline Wagner Truman died of a gunshot wound to the head at her Orem home on September 30, 2012; her husband, Conrad Truman, was convicted of her murder in 2014, had that conviction overturned after a crime-scene measurement was found to be wrong by roughly two feet, was acquitted at a 2017 retrial, and saw his federal civil rights lawsuit against the prosecutor dismissed in June 2025.

What Happened the Night Heidy Truman Died

Conrad and Heidy Truman were alone at home on the evening of September 30, 2012. Conrad told police the couple had been drinking whiskey and watching Dexter, and that Heidy went to take a shower after some minor bickering. Her blood alcohol level was later measured at 0.07 percent.¹

Conrad said he was in the kitchen when he heard a door open and then a “pop,” and found his wife falling to the ground near the hallway entry to the kitchen with a gunshot wound to the head.² When officers arrived, Heidy was nude and lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen. A household gun lay on the floor near her body, and a second gun was on the floor between Conrad’s legs.¹

Conrad had tried CPR before calling 911, and on the call he shrieked and spoke incoherently.³ Officers said his behavior raised suspicion immediately. He was seen kissing and talking to Heidy’s feet. When Sgt. William Crook asked what happened, Conrad reportedly replied, “If she dies, I will kill you and everyone you know.”⁴

His account of the shot also shifted. He first suggested someone outside might have fired through a window, but investigators found no bullet holes or blood trail to support that. He then said Heidy may have accidentally shot herself while getting out of the shower.¹

The Prosecution’s Theory and the 2014 Conviction

The Orem Police Department’s lead detective was Thomas Wallace. Medical examiner Dr. Edward Leis initially classified the manner of death as “could not be determined,” then changed the ruling to “homicide” after reviewing materials from investigators, including a crime scene diagram and a PowerPoint presentation. His conclusion turned on the distance Heidy’s body was found from the apparent location of the gunshot: the materials indicated she would have had to travel more than 12 feet after being shot, which Leis said was incompatible with a self-inflicted wound.²

Conrad Truman was charged on July 19, 2013, with first-degree felony murder and second-degree felony obstruction of justice.⁵ Prosecutors alleged a financial motive: Conrad stood to receive $878,767 from life insurance policies and other benefits on his wife’s death.⁶

No definitive fingerprints were found on the gun, and the state crime lab could not tie the weapon to either Conrad or Heidy. Prosecutors argued the gun had been pressed against Heidy’s skin when it fired, which in their view eliminated an accident and left only homicide or suicide as possibilities.⁷ Both sides at trial treated suicide as unlikely, leaving the jury to choose between intentional murder and the defense’s theory of a freak accident in which Heidy slipped while holding the gun.

On October 22, 2014, a Fourth Judicial District Court jury in Provo found Conrad Truman guilty of both charges.⁸ He was sentenced to consecutive terms of 15 years to life on the murder count and one to 15 years on the obstruction count.⁹ He entered the Utah State Prison in February 2015.

The Measurement Error That Unraveled the Case

The prosecution’s argument depended on a crime scene diagram that put the length of the Truman hallway at 13.9 feet. After the conviction, the defense discovered that number was wrong. Detective Wallace had recorded the hallway as 139 inches, and when the figure was transcribed, someone had treated it as though there were 10 inches in a foot. The actual hallway measured closer to 11.5 feet, roughly two feet shorter than what jurors were told.¹⁰ Prosecutors initially tried to defend the number by claiming law enforcement used a nonstandard 10-inches-per-foot conversion, an argument the defense called “absurd,” and eventually conceded it was simply wrong.

Judge Samuel McVey found that the two-foot discrepancy had made the defense’s theory that Heidy could have shot herself and collapsed where she was found appear “virtually impossible” to the jury. With the corrected dimensions, that theory became “possible.”¹⁰ Shown the corrected measurements, Dr. Leis changed his manner-of-death ruling back to “undetermined,” saying he could not rule out suicide.¹¹ On June 20, 2016, the state court granted Conrad Truman a new trial.⁵

The 2017 Acquittal

Conrad Truman’s retrial opened on February 2, 2017, in Provo. The flawed diagram was not used, and Dr. Leis did not testify. Defense attorney Mark Moffat told jurors that Conrad had told police “time and time again” on the night of the shooting that he did not shoot his wife.¹²

On February 24, 2017, the jury acquitted him on both counts. He walked out of court after roughly three years and seven months in custody.⁵ Heidy Truman’s family, which had publicly stated their belief that Conrad killed her, did not speak to reporters as they left the courthouse; her sister collapsed on the courtroom floor when the verdict was read.¹³

The Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit

On July 12, 2017, Conrad Truman sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, naming Orem City, the Orem Police Department, several officers including Detective Wallace, the Utah County Attorney’s Office, and Deputy County Attorney Craig Johnson, who had prosecuted the criminal case.¹⁴ Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, he alleged that government officials knowingly fabricated crime scene measurements to rule out suicide and secure a murder conviction.⁸

The case moved through the federal courts for eight years:

In November 2018, U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart dismissed most of the claims, finding “no evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude” that the defendants had manufactured or fabricated evidence. The officers received summary judgment, and Johnson was granted qualified immunity.¹⁵
In June 2021, the Tenth Circuit partially reversed, ruling that Johnson was not entitled to qualified immunity on the fabrication claim because fabricating evidence during a preliminary investigation is not covered by absolute prosecutorial immunity, and calling the alleged conduct an “obvious case” of a constitutional violation. The court affirmed summary judgment for the police officers, finding Truman had forfeited his arguments as to them on appeal.¹⁶
In February 2022, on remand, Judge Stewart again ruled for Johnson, this time on issue preclusion, reasoning that the state court had already found the prosecutor lacked knowledge of the measurement errors.
In February 2023, the Tenth Circuit reversed again, holding that issue preclusion did not apply because the burden of proof in the § 1983 case was lower than the burden Truman had faced in state court.¹⁷
On June 16, 2025, Judge Dale A. Kimball granted Johnson’s renewed motion for summary judgment, ending the case. The court found Truman had not shown Johnson acted with the “knowing or intentional” conduct a fabrication claim requires, and noted that Johnson reasonably relied on Detective Wallace’s investigative work and that even Truman’s own defense counsel and private investigator had not caught the measurement errors during the original trial.⁵

Both Detective Wallace and Dr. Leis died while the civil case was pending. Leis, who had been Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Utah before retiring in 2019, died on April 30, 2023, at 64.¹⁸ Neither was deposed in the federal proceeding.

What Remains Unresolved

The acquittal did not establish what happened to Heidy Truman on the night she died. The medical examiner’s final classification of her death is “undetermined.” No one else was ever charged. Heidy’s relatives have continued to maintain that Conrad killed her; Conrad has maintained his innocence. The federal courts concluded that the flawed measurements were error rather than intentional misconduct, and his civil claims ended with no recovery.

1
Salt Lake Tribune (Archive). Conrad Truman Preliminary Hearing Details
2
FindLaw. Truman v. Orem City (10th Circuit)
3
ABC News. Utah Man Talked to Wife’s Feet After Shooting
4
ABC News. Utah Husband Conrad Truman Faces Trial in Wife’s Murder
5
GovInfo. Truman v. Johnson, District Court Memorandum Decision
6
Deseret News. Orem Man Pleads Not Guilty in Wife’s Death
7
KUTV. Suicide Ruled Unlikely in Conrad Truman Trial
8
Salt Lake Tribune. Conrad Truman Files Lawsuit After Acquittal
9
Deseret News. New Trial Ordered for Orem Man Convicted of Murdering Wife
10
Salt Lake Tribune (Archive). Conrad Truman New Trial Ruling
11
KJZZ. Jury Reaches Verdict in Conrad Truman Murder Case
12
Fox 13 Salt Lake City. Conrad Truman Acquitted in Second Trial
13
Salt Lake Tribune (Archive). Conrad Truman Acquitted of Murder
14
FindLaw. Truman v. Orem City (10th Circuit, 2021)
15
Fox 13 Salt Lake City. Judge Tosses Conrad Truman’s Lawsuit
16
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Truman v. Orem City, No. 19-4133
17
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Truman v. Johnson, No. 22-4017
18
Ertel Funeral Home. Edward Anthony Leis Obituary