Parents accused of kidnapping their 20-year-old daughter admit their guilt

The parents who were accused of kidnapping their daughter on her wedding eve agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges. They said they were anxious about their child’s age and about the groom.

Photo: Parents accused of kidnapping their 20-year-old daughter admit their guilt

Julia Redd, 57, and husband Lemuel Redd, 60, will appear in court Wednesday to enter a plea before state Judge James Taylor, a court docket shows. The Redds originally were charged with felony kidnapping, and their trial was to start Monday.

The Redds' lawyer, Rhome Zabriskie, confirmed to The Associated Press that the parents have agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges. Zabriskie would not disclose terms of the plea agreement, and prosecutors could not be reached after hours.

The parents, who live in Monticello in southern Utah , were accused of kidnapping their 20-year-old daughter, Julianna Myers, on the eve of her wedding. A brief trip to buy religious garments in August 2006 for the ceremony in a Mormon temple turned into a long drive to Grand Junction , Colorado , and a night in a motel.

"We feel sorry for the whole situation that we don't understand," Julia Redd told the AP late Tuesday. "We had concerns about (the groom), and she was only 20 years old. We're not against marriage. We just believe people need to be wise."

The groom was also in his early 20s.

Julia Redd also declined to discuss terms of the plea deal.

Negotiations to settle the case broke down last spring over a prosecutor's demands for an explicit apology by the parents, but Zabriskie said nothing stands in the way of an agreement now.

"I don't think it's going to blow up," Zabriskie said late Tuesday. "I think everything's going to go as planned."

Julianna and Perry Myers were married Aug. 8, 2006, three days later than planned, at the Salt Lake City temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her parents, who are cattle ranchers and dry-wheat farmers, did not attend.

The parents' lawyers argued in court papers that Perry Myers coached his bride to tell police it was a kidnapping, and that he even suggested at the outset of her disappearance that she may have been a victim of a murder-suicide.

A phone listing could not be found for Perry and Julianna Myers.