Woman sentenced to prison for killing roommate after pleading guilty with mental condition

SALT LAKE CITY — A woman was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on Thursday after admitting that she killed her roommate at a Sandy shelter.

Laura Darlene Northrup, 62, pleaded on July 22, 2026, to guilty with a mental condition to murder, a first-degree felony. Third District Judge Dianna Gibson issued her sentence, and recommended she get credit for the more than two years she already spent behind bars.

Stephanie Lynn Haskett-Carrasco, 62, one of Northrup's two roommates at the Medically Vulnerable People Program Facility, was found deceased under her bed on May 26, 2024, with "significant blunt force trauma to her head and neck," according to a statement from Salt Lake County Attorney Sim Gill.

All five of Haskett-Carrasco's children attended the sentencing, and her family displayed a slideshow of pictures of her paired with a recording of her grandchildren singing.

A daughter said her mother's favorite thing was to take her grandchildren to the arcade and to the store where they could pick out their own items.

"The family's presence at the sentencing was a powerful moment for everyone in the courtroom as they got up one by one, talking about their love for the mother and grandmother they had lost," Gill said.

He said he hopes the family feels they have received "some measure of justice."

The sentence ensures Northrup will get the mental health resources she needs while being held accountable for Haskett-Carrasco's death, according to Gill.

A metal 14 oz can of nutrition powder was found blood and hair on it and a white shoe covered in blood that was believed to be Northrup's shoe, charges said. Police also found a substance that looked like blood on the air conditioning unit and door frame in the room, according to Gill's statement.

Shelter staff had previously reported that Northrup and Haskett-Carrasco would "bicker" a lot.

Charging documents said the other roommate saw Haskett-Carrasco's foot hanging out of the bottom of the bed behind blankets and her foot was cold. They said Northrup had left the room just before 2 a.m., and the roommate noticed her body at about 4:30 p.m.

As part of Northrup's plea deal, a charge for obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, was dismissed.

The facility provides housing and medical care to seniors, veterans and medically frail individuals who are experiencing homelessness.