A husband headbutts his wife during an argument

By Travis Uresk

12/18/23

12/4/23 - Vernal, Ut. At around midnight, Sgt Watt assisted Vernal City Police to a third-party report of a domestic. The victim was at the complainant's residence when the call came in.

The information provided to dispatch was that a fight had happened between Caleb and his wife. When Sgt Watt arrived, he spoke with the complainant and the victim. The victim appeared upset about the police being called and stated several times that nothing happened, and she didn't want to report anything or do anything about it.

The complainant commented that the victim and the suspect had been in previous physical domestic issues, and the police were called this time because of what Caleb did to his wife this time.

As Sgt Watt spoke with the victim, he could see that she had a goose egg and a bruise above her right eye. When asked about her injury, she said that Caleb punched her in the face and headbutted her. The victim stated she didn't want to pursue any criminal charges.

During the conversation, the victim stated that they have four children, all of them who were home when the incident occurred.

The officers were able to get some cooperation from the victim, who allowed them to photograph the injury and also go through the Domestic Violence Lethality Screening, which resulted in the victim not being in high danger. During the screening, when asked if there was anything else that worried the victim about her safety, she said yes and was worried about Caleb hitting her.

Sgt Watt responded to a residence to contact 40-year-old Caleb Sylvanus Gray. When the officers arrived, from open curtains, they could see a television in one of the rooms, and there were lights in several rooms.

Sgt Watt knocked on the front door several times but was unable to get anyone's attention. Assisting Officers knocked on the back door, and the police got Caleb to respond and come to the backdoor. Sgt Watt met with Caleb inside the residence and explained why the police were there.

Caleb denied having any argument with the victim even though he later said that they had an argument when the victim came home around 5:00 pm because when she got home from a friend's house, she was drunk. Caleb didn't know or acted as if he didn't know his wife even left the house.

Sgt Watt explained to Caleb that she had some injuries to her face and reported that he did them to her. Caleb again denied having any physical fight with the victim but couldn't give a reasonable explanation about her injuries.

The victim was driven back to the house by the complainant. Once she realized that Caleb was arrested, she became upset and uncooperative and went into the residence. A short time later, she returned, and Sgt Watt explained to her what action he had taken and why.

During the conversation, she again stated several times that she did not want to pursue charges and could not understand why Caleb was arrested. During this same follow-up conversation with the victim, she confirmed again that Caleb did, in fact, punch her in the face and headbutt her.

She also confirmed that this fight occurred in front of her two oldest children, one of whom was reportedly upset over it. The other two younger children were in the house then, but it was unknown if they had observed or heard the domestic incident.