Overview
- Micah Smith faces three counts of child torture and three counts of aggravated child abuse, all first-degree felonies, and is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County Jail.
- Smith took his three children on Oct. 11 up the Broads Fork route toward Twin Peaks in Big Cottonwood Canyon; search-and-rescue teams with state air units and Life Flight found them the next morning and transported all four to hospitals.
- Rescuers found the 4-year-old unresponsive with no pulse; he received about 25 minutes of CPR, arrived with a core temperature of 62.6°F, later suffered a stroke and required skull surgery, and remains hospitalized.
- Texts and videos recovered by investigators show storm conditions as Smith’s daughter asked, “Are we going to freeze to death, daddy?” and messages from the children’s mother urging a turnaround, which prosecutors say he ignored.
- Prosecutors cite prior police contact for suicidal ideation involving firearms and a Nov. 10 incident at Primary Children’s Hospital alleging interference with his son’s care in arguing for detention without bail.