Man ordered to stand trial in death of brother-in-law

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AMERICAN FORK — A judge said recordings played for him on Tuesday show Matthew Restelli was not someone who was angry or "on a mission to cause problems" when he was killed after arriving at home to see his family.

"It was somebody (who) was looking forward to, from what I heard today, to seeing his wife and kids and giving her a hug and a kiss and heading back home," 4th District Judge Roger Griffin said.

Following a two-day hearing, he ordered Kevin Ellis, the man's brother-in-law, to stand trial for murder, a first-degree felony, conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies; two counts of domestic violence in the presence of children and being a restricted person in possession of a gun, third-degree felonies; and drug possession, a class A misdemeanor.

Ellis, 43, entered not guilty pleas to each of the charges, and his attorney said he wants the case to move quickly to trial.

Restelli was shot and killed minutes after driving from his family home in California to American Fork, where his wife had been staying with her mother. Prosecutors allege Restelli's death was the result of a conspiracy between Ellis and others in Restelli's wife's family.

On the first day of the hearing, Dec. 18, the judge heard testimony from one of Ellis' siblings, Rachel Jorgensen, who said Ellis was given access to track the AirTag in Restelli's truck, left on a previous family trip to Disneyland, after their sister had left her husband to come to Utah. She said he was given access because Katie Restelli didn't have an iPhone but could watch her husband's drive to Utah through his account.

Jorgensen said she never knew her brother to carry a gun, but she said they knew Matt Restelli had guns and would talk about hiding them. She also testified that Matt Restelli's temper would rise quickly, comparing it to a boomerang.

Evidence at the hearing included body camera footage from the first officer who arrived at the scene, recordings from interviews of Restelli's wife immediately after the killing and testimony from Amanda Ho, assistant medical examiner in Utah, who performed the autopsy.

Griffin said both sides knew Ellis shot Restelli, but he determined the argument from Ellis saying it was self-defense was "not persuasive" — noting a knife in Restelli's non-dominant hand facing an unnatural way when officers arrived. The judge said it can be reasonably inferred that nobody would have even held onto a knife after being shot seven times.

He said the placement of the knife and the delay in calling 911 — officials first received a call from a neighbor and minutes later a call from Ellis' mom — supported the charge of obstructing justice.

Ellis' attorney, Scott Williams, argued against ordering him to stand trial on the conspiracy charge, saying prosecutors had not proven both agreement and desire to murder Restelli.

"Kevin Ellis still has to agree with them, he can't be worked up into a frenzy with information given to him," he said.

Griffin did not agree and cited an earlier text from the victim's mother-in-law, Tracey Grist, saying she was a "mama bear" and would go to California to strangle Restelli to protect her daughter and Ellis received a text that day letting him know Restelli would be arriving soon.

"In a home, in an area where they say they don't even lock the front door ... he's carrying a gun in the house, and it's not even his. And he shot somebody seven times," Griffin said.

He determined that, along with deleted texts and search histories, there is enough evidence to support the conspiracy charges.

Deputy Utah County attorney James Watabe said in closing arguments that conversations between Matthew and Kathryn Restelli had been friendly and that Matthew Restelli didn't know his wife was considering a divorce.

"I believe the evidence clearly shows that (Ellis) ambushed Matthew Restelli," he said.

Griffin expressed doubt of the claims from Kathryn Restelli in interviews immediately after the killing when she portrayed her husband as abusive. He cited a conversation with a divorce lawyer the day before Matthew Restelli was shot where she denied multiple times there had been physical abuse in their marriage, even when it was discussed that if there were it could help her gain custody.

Kathryn Restelli and her mother are also charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, obstruction of justice and two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, and will be facing a similar hearing before Griffin on Feb. 25 and 27.

The initial plan was for Kathryn Restelli to drive to California in a rental car so Matthew Restelli could see his children instead of having him drive to Utah. In Ellis' hearing, texts were shared between Kathryn Restelli and her mom where she told her mom she could not rent a car without a credit card because of her out-of-state license.

Grist's response was: "!!!Fantastic. Wait until tomorrow to tell him!"

In a recording played in court, Kathryn Restelli told her husband in a phone call that she was "a little lost right now" because the company wouldn't rent her a car — meaning he would need to drive to Utah.

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Emily Ashcraft

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Emily Ashcraft is a reporter for KSL.com. She covers issues in state courts, health and religion. In her spare time, Emily enjoys crafting, cycling and raising chickens.