John P. Bloxham, who is suspected of murdering Todd Rogers, formerly of SLC.

A former Utahn killed in Virginia Saturday was allegedly gunned down by a leader in his fiancée's LDS ward, and his father claims jealousy was the motive.

Police arrested John P. Bloxham, 41, of Alexandria, Va., and charged him with the murder of 31-year-old Todd Rogers, who grew up in Salt Lake City.

David Rogers, of Crofton, Md., said his son had planned to announce his engagement to his girlfriend, Carrie Johanson, on Sunday.

On Saturday night, Todd Rogers was driving from her house to his own home in Manassas, Va., and Bloxham was a passenger in his Chevrolet Avalanche.

Bloxham works with Johanson at the U.S. Census Bureau, David Rogers said, and is an Elders Quorum counselor at her ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Bloxham confronted Todd Rogers and the two argued inside the vehicle; then Bloxham shot him several times with a handgun, police said. Bloxham jumped out of the truck, and it crashed into another car in a Beacon Hill neighborhood, police said. Bloxham then allegedly fled the scene.

A neighbor responding to the crash offered Todd Rogers help, and he gave the resident his parents' telephone number, David Rogers said.

"Tell my mother I've been shot," he told the neighbor, according to David Rogers. Then Todd Rogers reportedly said, "It was John."

Police later arrested Bloxham at his home and booked him into the Fairfax County jail, where he was being held without bail.

Johanson had told Todd Rogers that Bloxham had had watched her from outside her house, David Rogers said.

"She had mentioned to Todd that he existed. He's out there," David Rogers said. "Todd is a peaceful guy and thought he could handle it peacefully, no big deal."

Todd Rogers grew up in Salt Lake City and played football for a brief time for Taylorsville High School, his father said. He earned his bachelor's degree and a master's degree in mechanical engineering at BYU and served an LDS mission in Brazil.

He moved to Virginia from California to take a job with Micron and to find a bride, his father said.

"He wanted to come to where there were more single women," David Rogers said.

steph forwarded me a link to about this story in the salt lake tribune. as i read, i realized that i knew the girl named in the article. first freak out. this is me and her in october 2005:


then she sent me a link to the second article, which had a picture of the accused murderer. and then i realized, i know him too. second and bigger freak out. this is he and i from the same time frame: