This Utahn killed a man, is accused of sexually abusing a child, and now is charged with kidnapping elderly woman

Criminal charges have been filed against a Pleasant Grove man accused of carjacking a 74-year-old woman and forcing her to drive to a bank and withdraw money.

The same man spent time in prison for killing a man during a bar fight and is currently also facing charges accusing him of sexually abusing a young girl in one case and burglarizing a house in another.

Eon Clayton McNeill, 33, was charged Friday in 4th District Court with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies.

On Jan. 11, the woman was at a gas station in Lehi when McNeill got into her car and forced her to drive to Zion’s Bank, 620 E. Main in Lehi, according to charging documents.

McNeill “got in the passenger side back seat and told this elderly victim that he would not physically hurt her if she did what he said,” the charges state.

As the woman ran into the bank, police say McNeill got into the driver’s seat and drove off. Another bank customer who was at the drive-thru window saw what was happening and followed McNeill.

McNeill tried to speed away from the witness on I-15, exited at 14600 South in Draper at a high rate of speed and crashed into the concrete median, totaling the vehicle, according to the charges. He then ran from the accident scene.

Police were able to get a description of the man based on surveillance video from multiple locations. Surveillance cameras from the Utah Department of Corrections’ Fred House Academy and the Division of Motor Vehicles office next door, both in Draper, recorded McNeill discarding his backpack and jacket, the charges say. Inside the backpack, police reported finding records that identified McNeill. He was arrested a few days later on Jan. 16.

McNeill has a lengthy criminal history in Utah, including being charged with manslaughter in 2012. and aggravated sexual abuse of a child in 2019.

In the manslaughter case, McNeill punched Trent Hall in the head outside an American Fork bar, killing him. He pleaded guilty in 2013 to a reduced charge of criminal homicide by assault, a third-degree felony, and was sentenced to a term of up to five years in the Utah State Prison, court records state.

In the sex abuse case, McNeill is accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl during a sleepover. The victim was a friend of the daughter of a woman McNeill was dating and he lived in the house. Charging documents say he told the girl to trust him and he wouldn’t hurt her as he tried to undress and touch the sleeping child.

In July, McNeill was charged with aggravated burglary in 4th District Court after allegedly breaking into a basement that he had been previously renting from the homeowners but was evicted from a week earlier. McNeill was arrested following a SWAT standoff.

According to court records, McNeill’s next hearing for both the July charge and the child sex abuse charge is scheduled for Feb. 2.

In his latest kidnapping case, prosecutors have requested that McNeill be held without bail.