The search continued Tuesday for the killers of a 75-year-old Salt Lake County man in Parleys Canyon.
The body of Herbert Strehl was found tied up and shot multiple times in a quarry off I-80 about three miles up the canyon Sunday night.
Investigators are hoping many of their questions will be answered when they find Strehl's gold 2000 Jeep Cherokee, which the suspect or suspects are believed to have taken. The vehicle's license plate is 079H2.
One of Strehl's neighbors, who asked to remain anonymous, said he saw Strehl leave home in his Jeep about 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Someone else followed him in Strehl's green Mercedes.
About 5 p.m., both cars returned. The neighbor said Strehl looked more serious than usual.
"He seemed pretty focused on something," the neighbor said.
About 6:30 p.m., the neighbor said he saw the Jeep, with two people inside, leave again in a hurry. Salt Lake County sheriff's investigators believed the slaying happened sometime between 6 and 8 p.m. Detectives said Monday they believed Strehl was killed at the quarry.
Strehl was president of Tool Design & Engineering & Mfg., 2061 W. 2300 South, a hydraulic cylinder repair and manufacturing shop that makes mining tools. His son, Richard Strehl, is the chief operating officer.
In 1989, Strehl's company was ordered to clean up lead and chrome-contaminated soil on its property. The Utah Attorney General's Office later found out the company cleaned its property by dumping 27 truckloads of the contaminated soil in a former Salt Lake City landfill.
In April 1996, the company pleaded guilty to charges of evidence tampering. Strehl pleaded guilty to communications fraud, a class A misdemeanor, for lying about the cleanup. He agreed to pay a $74,000 fine and remove the contaminated soil.
Three years later, Strehl's attorney, Byron Stubbs, was disbarred for lying to cover up the contaminated-soil dumping.
Friends said Strehl was a friendly man, the type who would give you the shirt off his back. One neighbor said he would often give chocolate to his children.
But they say he was also a very private man. Strehl's next-door neighbor said he saw him only about four or five times in the past nine years.
Strehl lived in an upscale neighborhood in Olympus Cove. His property is surrounded by fences, including a 10-foot gate in front of his driveway.
In many ways, Strehl was a survivor. He was born in Germany and was in a tank battalion during World War II for the German army, but one neighbor said he often talked about how he hated Adolf Hitler.
One of Strehl's former co-workers said his arms were scarred with shrapnel wounds from the war. He reportedly still had pieces of shrapnel in him.
Datus Thorup worked for Strehl for 11 years before being laid off last February. He remembered Strehl as a colorful man who had a way of talking to people and drawing them into a conversation.
"I'm really quite numb about the whole situation," Thorup said. "He'll be missed."
Strehl was also very demanding and held his workers to a certain standard, Thorup said. But likewise, they were fairly compensated for their work.
Thorup believed finances at Strehl's company had been a bit strained lately, which is why he was laid off. He believed the drop in the cost of gold had hurt the company.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
E-MAIL: preavy@desnews.com