Town file
Pleasant Grove, Utah
Pleasant Grove, Utah (Utah County, Utah) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 531, "Dr Serial Killer" (26 September 2024).
- Town
- Pleasant Grove
- County
- Utah County
- State
- Utah
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 531
- Approximate location
- 40.371, -111.741
Episode 531 / 26 September 2024 / 170 min / full
Dr Serial Killer
"This is in north central Utah, outside Salt Lake City in the mountains; it's in Utah County." about 0:05:43
The case: Murder of Michelle McNeil (April 11, 2007); Murder of Rufus Roy McNeil (April 3, 1986). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2024
- Population
- 37,228
- Median age
- 28.3
- Median household income
- $81,850 a year
- Median home value
- $507,400
- Two-bedroom rent
- $1,270
- Cost of living
- 117
- Religious
- 95.7%
- Property crime
- ▼ less than half
- Violent crime
- ▼ about one-third
History, in brief
- The town's original name was Battle Creek, after an 1849 massacre between Mormon settlers and a small band of Ute Indians. about 0:06:06
- Brigham Young believed the Ute had stolen his horses, though the horses were found before the attack took place. about 0:06:29
- It was renamed Pleasant Grove after a grove of cottonwood trees between Battle Creek and Grove Creek, near the present intersection of Locust Avenue and Battle Creek Drive. about 0:06:53
- During the Walker Indian War in the 1850s, settlers built a fort with walls two or three feet thick covering the area of 16 city blocks. about 0:07:06
- The fort is gone, but cornerstones mark it; the southwest monument stood near 300 South 100 West, an area now occupied by a strip mall. about 0:07:37
- The town motto is Utah's City of Trees. about 0:05:47
The reviews read out
5 stars
"The community has a tight bond like nothing the reviewer has seen; everyone is kind and willing to help, and there are lots of LDS people."about 0:07:59
"It used to be an orchard town before most of the trees were pushed over; the only bummer is the bumpy roads and the outdoor pool, and it is one of the safest places in the USA."about 0:08:23
3 stars
"Not the reviewer's ideal place to live, but it works for now."about 0:09:09
2 stars
"Probably the reviewer's least favourite place they have ever lived."about 0:09:14
2 stars
"Extremely religious and exclusive if you are not a Mormon; cold, with trash air."about 0:09:26
2 stars
"The reviewer cannot think of anywhere in Pleasant Grove to go and says you have to leave town for that."about 0:09:47
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- American Fork, Utah2.9 miles
- Holladay, Utah20 miles
- Payson, Utah23 miles
- South Salt Lake, Utah25 miles
- Eureka, Utah35 miles
- Oakley, Utah35 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.