Salt Lake City police investigators have determined the death of a 9-year-old boy whose body was found Sunday at the Melting Pot was a homicide.
Pedro Gaucin-Canales, 36, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Wednesday for investigation of aggravated murder.
The boy, whose name has not been released, was found dead about 9:30 a.m. in the kitchen of the restaurant, 340 S. Main.
Police were called to scene on a report of a child not breathing and going into spasms. When paramedics arrived they discovered his body temperature was just 76 degrees, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.
An autopsy on the boy made Dr. Todd Grey, the state medical examiner, "very alarmed" and he advised police to "look into this case further."
Homicide detectives interviewed two witnesses including Gaucin. They determined that Gaucin, "put our victim in a trash can full of ice and water until the victim was (non-responsive) and then put our victim in warm water," according to the jail report.
Grey was given this information and determined the death may be from hypothermia but that "further testing is needed," the jail report stated.
Gaucin was being held Thursday in the Salt Lake County Jail on $100,000 bail. Gauchin's relationship to the child is unclear.
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