MURRAY — Police on Thursday continued to look for a killer who stuffed his victim inside a garbage can in the basement of a vacant house.
Investigators identified the victim as 24-year-old Michael Lewis, whose body was found Wednesday in a trash can inside a house near 5300 South and 600 West. The house was vacant and had no running water or electricity.
Neighbors called it a drug house, and police said there had been a fair amount of traffic recently going through it. Lewis was not the owner of the house where he was found, Murray detective Rob Hall said.
Additional evidence has been collected since the body was discovered that confirmed Lewis' death was a homicide, Hall said without offering further details. A final report from the State Medical Examiner was not expected for a few days, he said.
Investigators were asking for the public's help in retracing Lewis' steps. Anyone who knew him or had recent contact with him is asked to call police at 840-4000.
"The main thing now is developing a timeline," Hall said. "We have a lot of leads to follow."
A search of court records by the Deseret Morning News showed Lewis had an extensive criminal history with arrests primarily for drug-related crimes.