Bio 

Barton Kay Kirkham was born on November 29, 1936, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was raised as the eldest of five children. He was described in public accounts as rebellious and left school in the eleventh grade before joining the United States Air Force. His military service ended after he went absent without leave and committed a robbery in Colorado, which led to an undesirable discharge.

 After spending about nine months in a reformatory, he was paroled in July 1956. Only a few weeks later, he returned to Utah and committed the Nibley Park Market robbery, where he killed storekeepers David Avon Frame and Ruth Holmes Webster. His later statements showed anger and defiance, but those statements came after the crime and should be treated as part of the case record rather than a full explanation of his motive.

Murder Story

On the night of August 12, 1956, Barton Kay Kirkham entered the Nibley Park Market grocery store in Salt Lake City, Utah, intending to rob it. Inside the store were 50-year-old David Avon Frame and 37-year-old Ruth Holmes Webster. After taking money from the store, Kirkham forced both victims to lie or kneel on the floor. He then shot each of them in the back of the head, killing both. The robbery netted about $54.

Kirkham was arrested the next day after he forced a brother and sister to drive him through Provo Canyon. When asked later why he killed Frame and Webster, he reportedly gave no clear motive. The murders shocked Salt Lake City because both victims were storekeepers killed during a small robbery.

Kirkham was tried for the murder of David Avon Frame. His trial began on December 12, 1956, and on December 14, 1956, he was found guilty of first-degree murder. He was not separately tried for the murder of Ruth Holmes Webster. His attorneys appealed, arguing that his mental condition had not been properly considered, but the Utah Supreme Court affirmed the conviction in 1958.

On April 26, 1958, Kirkham was sentenced to death. At the time, Utah allowed condemned prisoners to choose between hanging and firing squad. Kirkham chose hanging, reportedly because he wanted publicity and wanted to inconvenience the state. His execution became the first hanging carried out by Utah in 46 years.

In the early morning of June 7, 1958, Kirkham was taken to a gallows built on the Utah State Prison farm. He was executed by hanging at dawn and pronounced dead at 5:11 a.m. He was 21 years old. His hanging was the last execution by hanging carried out by the state of Utah.