SANDY — Police have arrested a man in connection with the murder of a Sandy day-care provider who was found dead in her home early Wednesday morning.

Sandy police arrested the woman's son, Farid Baruque, 26, late Wednesday night and booked him into jail after questioning him and several other family members about the woman's suspicious death, said Sandy Police Sgt. Kevin Thacker.

Baruque remained in the Salt Lake County Jail Thursday morning for investigation of homicide. No bail was set.

Farid Baruque did not live with his mother, and police don't have any other suspects in custody at this time, Thacker said.

Edith Baruque, 49, was last seen alive Tuesday evening.

After a business associate found her body at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, police were called and found the woman's body in a bedroom, Thacker said.

Police believe the woman died after a argument that escalated into physical violence, Thacker said.

"The autopsy results indicate that the marks on the victim were consistent with strangulation," Thacker said.

Edith Baruque's death is the fourth homicide in Sandy this year.

"That's high for us," Thacker said. "A lot of them are just things that seem to be very random. I don't know what we can attribute them to."

This is also not the first tragedy to hit the Baruque family in the past few years. Edith Baruque's husband died a "sudden death" in 1997, and her home burned down in 1998, Thacker said. She had been living in a rented home at 8250 S. Gerona Circle (1330 East) with two relatives.

A home under construction, being rebuilt in pink stucco, sits on the corner of 1330 East and 8125 South, where the fire occurred. Baruque planned to move back in when the home was completed, Thacker said.

Baruque ran a child-care business out of her rental home and was licensed to care for up to 12 children, Thacker said.

Sue Laymon, who lives across the street from Edith Baruque, said three or four children were dropped off at the home before a business associate — who was at the home to help care for the children — found Baruque dead Wednesday morning.

"I hope those babies didn't see anything," she said. "What a horrible sight. I mean it's hard enough for adults."

Laymon said she saw Baruque Tuesday between 6 and 8 p.m. The woman was accompanied by three or four young men in a dark-blue motor home. The group was attempting to enter a nearby residence Baruque formerly rented, Laymon said.

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"I was going to call police but then I saw Edith was with them," she said. "She was fiddling with the keys. . . . It seemed like they were looking for something. They went inside for about three or four minutes and then they took off."

Firefighters carried children from the house and parents were called to retrieve their toddlers Wednesday, Laymon said.

Besides her only son, Edith Baruque had two married daughters who did not live with her.


E-mail: djensen@desnews.com; bsnyder@desnews.com

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