RICHFIELD — Two bodies were found in the trunk of a car after a routine traffic stop Thursday night on I-70 near Joseph, Sevier County.
This morning, a Sevier County sheriff's deputy was transporting the bodies, one male and one female, to the State Medical Examiner's Office in Salt Lake City, and a 31-year-old man from out of state was being held in the Sevier County Jail for investigation of murder.
By press time today, police had not released the ages, identity, relation or cause of death of the pair, although they were investigating the deaths as homicides.
Both bodies were wrapped in some sort of tarp or plastic bag and were not significantly decomposed, Sevier County Sheriff Phil Barney said. Barney would not say if the bodies had been dismembered.
Investigators believe the man and woman were from one of two Midwestern states, possibly Michigan, Barney said. Authorities in Utah are holding the driver for possible extradition back to the state where the female victim was from, Barney said. Sevier County Attorney Don Brown said Utah authorities had been in contact with police in Detroit. A Detroit TV station reported police are searching a house in Ann Arbor, Mich.
"I would hope that in the next few days there will be a determination made by the Detroit authorities as to charging," Brown said. "(The suspect) is right now going to be held on two murder counts related to the bodies, but obviously the investigation as to the appropriate jurisdiction is going to take a few days."
"We assume both murders took place in the same area, just at different times," Barney said. "We've been in contact with several agencies, trying to get identification on the car and people. Some of them have secured search warrants, and some of them are in the process of doing that."
Police would not say what other items were found in the car for fear of jeopardizing their investigation.
"There are far-reaching aspects to this case which will require extensive coordination and follow-up," Utah Highway Patrol Capt. Keith Squires said.
The State Bureau of Investigation is spearheading the investigation with help from the Sevier County Sheriff's Department and other agencies.
"It's a very bizarre crime, a very unusual one is how I'll put it," Barney said.
The bodies were discovered after UHP trooper Kelly Roberts pulled the car over for not having a front license plate Thursday at 4:52 p.m. just west of Joseph, located 12 miles southwest of Richfield and 149 miles south of Salt Lake City. The violation is often an indication of a stolen or improperly registered car, Squires said.
The car was traveling west and investigators believe the man was headed to Las Vegas, Barney said.
The driver could not produce any ID, registration or proof of insurance, and the out-of-state registration for the car wasn't found on file, Squires said.
Roberts took the man into custody and, with the help of trooper Doug Tenney, began to inventory the car's contents as part of the impound process.
During that inventory, they found the woman's body in the trunk, Squires said. The man's body was later discovered hidden in the trunk during a detailed search at the Sevier County Sheriff's Office in Richfield. Authorities would not say how the body was concealed.
The car remained at the sheriff's office this morning.
Police had obtained little information from the driver, who investigators said is believed to have acted alone.
"He's given us two very limited interviews, just basically identification type things, and that's all he's willing to talk about," Barney said. "He's now invoked his rights for an attorney, so we can't do anything further with him."
While this is not the first body discovered on I-70, Barney said this is the first time in his 35 years as a law enforcement officer in the area that two bodies have turned up in a trunk.
"Trooper Roberts did an exceptional job of looking at the overall circumstances and investigating beyond the initial registration violation," Squires said.
I-70 is one of the major east-west freeways in the United States and is known as a pipeline for transporting drugs or stolen goods from large cities. Police routinely uncover drug shipments when stopping cars for minor violations along the interstate.
"I would rank I-70 as one of the major freeways for people involved in high crime to use," Barney said.
E-MAIL: djensen@desnews.com
Contributing: Pat Reavy