The 13 years since Kiplyn Davis disappeared have produced five perjury convictions, countless leads and enough witness testimony to fill a phone book, but no murder convictions. Now, prosecutors will get their chance to put two suspects behind bars for the girl's death.

At the end of the sixth and final day of their preliminary hearing, 4th District Judge Lynn Davis on Tuesday ruled that there was enough evidence to send Timmy Brent Olsen and Christopher Neal Jeppson to trial on murder charges. Both defendants pleaded not guilty. The defendants are charged with killing Kiplyn, who disappeared from Spanish Fork High School on May 2, 1995, at the age of 15. No body has been found, but she has not been seen since and has long been presumed dead.

"We made another hurdle and Kiplyn's smiling," Richard Davis, Kiplyn's father, said as he choked back tears after the hearing. "We're thankful for what happened today. We've got the chance now to go before a jury and plead our case and plead Kiplyn's case."

Judge Davis's ruling came after five days of testimony in which witnesses described hearing the defendants admit responsibility for Kiplyn's death or disappearance, while investigators detailed alleged inconsistencies and discrepancies in Olsen's and Jeppson's alibis for the day she went missing.

Seven witnesses testified that they heard Olsen admit involvement in Kiplyn's murder, mostly at times when he had been drinking. Jeppson's ex-wife and ex-girlfriend testified that he told them he killed Kiplyn, though he said he was joking immediately after.

"There are only two people that said that they killed Kiplyn Davis," deputy county attorney Mariane O'Bryant said in her final arguments to Judge Davis. "There is a lot of evidence that supports their statement. There is nothing that contradicts it."

Judge Davis cited those alleged admissions of guilt in his decision to bind over Olsen and Jeppson for trial. The evidence was much stronger in Olsen's case than in Jeppson's, Judge Davis said, and the evidence against Jeppson is more groundless and improbable. The judge also emphasized that the probable cause required of prosecutors at a preliminary hearing is one of the lowest legal standards in American jurisprudence.

Despite Judge Davis's ruling to bind over Jeppson for trial, Scott Williams, his defense attorney, said he viewed the decision as a victory for his client. He said the evidence and Judge Davis's statements made it clear that the only reason Jeppson was being bound over for trial is because the burden of proof is so low, which will not be the case in a jury trial.

"It's extremely clear from the evidence and the course of the proceedings and from the judge's ruling and comments that there's no way that Chris Jeppson could be convicted beyond a reasonable doubt, given the state of the government's case," he said.

O'Bryant indicated after Monday's proceedings that the prosecution has evidence that was not presented at the preliminary hearing, but Williams was skeptical and even questioned whether the case would end up going to trial.

"We don't believe we're waiting for any evidence. That is the state's case and the state has only enough to get over the lowest hurdle known to law," he said. "We were confident going into prelim, and we're more confident now in relation to whether there's a trial. I expect there, frankly, won't be one."

Dana Facemyer, Olsen's defense attorney, declined to comment after the hearing.

O'Bryant was confident as well, disabusing the notion that prosecutors will face an uphill battle at trial.

"I think that a jury will see what we see in the case. It's kind of a common-sense case in a way," she said. "People don't confess to things, generally, that they don't do. Usually if you're going to lie, it's going to be to try to stay out of trouble, not something that will get you into trouble."

Along with testimony about Olsen's and Jeppson's alleged statements, O'Bryant spoke about problems with both defendants' alibis. Jeppson told investigators that he spent the day hanging lights in the Spanish Fork High School auditorium, a duty of his as a technician for the school drama department. From about noon until 11 p.m., he said he didn't see anyone else there except Olsen and David Rucker Leifson, who helped him put up lights and threw a football around with him, according to testimony.

But Lt. Brad Stone of the Spanish Fork Police Department testified that a community choir, of which he was a performing member, held a concert in the auditorium that night. O'Bryant said the concert negated Jeppson's alibi.

"So we know that's not where he was," O'Bryant said. "No one has ever been able to verify where Chris Jeppson was ... the day Kiplyn Davis disappeared."

Olsen initially told police that he and Leifson were at work that day installing sprinklers at the Bella Via Reception Center, which O'Bryant pointed out as Jeppson's original alibi as well. But it was raining that day, weather conditions that Olsen said they would not have been working in.

Next, he said he was at his friend Scott Brunson's house putting shingles on a shed Brunson was building. Brunson even said the same to police and repeated the story to a federal grand jury, but later admitted he was lying. Brunson testified last week that Olsen said he was telling investigators the truth but they did not believe him, so Olsen asked Brunson to say they were together.

Brunson pleaded guilty to perjury charges in U.S. District Court and has testified twice against Olsen as part of his deal with prosecutors. He testified at the preliminary hearing that Olsen came to his house twice the day Kiplyn disappeared, but only stayed for about 15 minutes each time.

"We know he wasn't at the Bella Via," O'Bryant said. "We know Mr. Olsen wasn't at Scott Brunson's house."

Williams and Facemyer pointed out during the preliminary hearing that numerous other witnesses and even other suspects changed their stories or admitted to lying outright. Judge Davis called the case the most interesting he had ever seen in terms of changed stories and inconsistencies, and said that in 22 years on the bench he has never had an admitted perjurer testify in a murder case.

Judge Davis said he disregarded the notion that he could infer that Olsen and Jeppson were guilty of murder on the grounds that their alibis were inconsistent.

"On the one hand the argument is made that you can infer guilt if the story is changed (in Olsen's and Jeppson's case), and then as to Mr. Brunson you can infer that he is telling the truth because his story has changed. This court cannot accept these conflicting arguments from the state," he said.

Judge Davis scheduled a status conference for Jan. 30, where Jeppson's attorneys are expected to waive their right to a speedy trial. Olsen, on the other hand, has filed a 180-day disposition, meaning that his trial must be concluded by the end of February. In bringing Olsen to Utah for the murder case, prosecutors removed him from a federal prison in Arizona where he was serving a 12-and-a-half-year sentence for perjury. He is being held at the Utah County Jail, and the time he spends there does not count against his perjury sentence.

Olsen was convicted in U.S. District Court on 15 counts of perjury for lying to a federal grand jury that was convened to investigate Kiplyn's disappearance. The sentence, which his attorneys say should have been 18-24 months, was enhanced because prosecutors cross-referenced the perjury charges with murder. Prosecutors have said they plan to do the same with Jeppson, who was convicted of perjury and making false statements in September.

Olsen's attorneys will appeal the cross-reference on his sentencing to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Oklahoma City on Tuesday. Jeppson's sentencing has been postponed while attorneys for both sides await the result of Olsen's appeal. Leifson, Brunson and Garry Blackmore have all pleaded guilty to perjury charges stemming from the investigation into Kiplyn's disappearance.

Olsen's and Jeppson's attorneys have argued against the cross-referencing on the grounds that prosecutors have not proved that a murder actually took place, pointing to the lack of a body. Though both have been bound over for trial on murder charges, Williams said he did not expect the case to have an impact on Olsen's appeal or Jeppson's impending sentencing.

"I don't know whether a government lawyer would argue otherwise, but I don't think that this case has any bearing or relevance ... on federal sentencing issues," he said.

As he has countless times before, Richard Davis said after the hearing that he only wants one result from the murder trial -- to find Kiplyn's body. He is still hoping that Olsen or Jeppson will provide some information about her whereabouts, and reiterated that he will do anything he can to help them if they can lead him to his daughter.

"We know they're going through hell, they really are, and so are their families," Richard Davis said. "If they just come forward and tell us where Kiplyn is, I'll be their biggest supporter."

Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@heraldextra.com.