On a Tuesday afternoon in the quiet landscape of Apple Valley, Utah, the life of 50-year-old Todd Stratton, a White/Caucasian male from the nearby community of Rockville, was brought to an abrupt and violent end. The date was October 8, 2019, and what began as a dispute over property maintenance would culminate in a fatal shooting. Stratton, the owner of a property on North Coyote Road, had gone to the residence where his longtime friend, Jason Howard Clinger, was living.
An argument erupted between the two men, a recurring theme in their discussions about the upkeep of the property.
The disagreement escalated tragically when Clinger, then 51, went inside the house and returned with a shotgun. According to Clinger's wife, before she could intervene, her husband fired at Stratton. She recounted that Stratton then reached for the shotgun, and Clinger fired a second time. After the shooting, a wounded Stratton reportedly pleaded for his life. Authorities were dispatched to the scene, near the Plataclay Mine, where they found Todd Stratton deceased with what appeared to be at least one gunshot wound.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Jason Howard Clinger was taken into custody by the Washington County Sheriff's Office and booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility. He admitted to deputies that his actions were not justified as self-defense. Subsequently, Clinger was charged with first-degree murder. The case moved through the legal system, and in April 2024, nearly five years after Stratton's death, Clinger entered a "no contest" plea to the murder charge. He was later sentenced for the killing of his friend, a tragic conclusion to a long-standing dispute.
