Draper police have identified the body of a man found over the weekend near the South Mountain Golf Course. Now, they have a lot of questions about how he died and how he got to the snow-covered area where he was found.
Fingerprints helped investigators positively identify Eric Moses Timberlake, 39, of Salt Lake.
Timberlake's body was found by hikers Saturday in a water-filled gully near the golf course. An autopsy revealed no sign the man died due to a violent act, said Draper police Sgt. Gerry Allred. Investigators are now waiting for toxicology tests, hoping they will reveal more information.
But there were other suspicious circumstances surrounding the death that have detectives treating the case as a homicide until evidence shows otherwise, Allred said.
For one, investigators can't figure out why the man was in Draper. Timberlake's last known address was an apartment on 600 North, Allred said. He had a minor criminal history including an arrest in Salt Lake for intoxication. But he had never had any contact with Draper police, he said.
Also, the area Timberlake was found has popular hiking trails but had received a lot of snow recently. The State Medical Examiner's Office determined Timberlake had been dead between two weeks and a month before he was found.
"There are trails in that area, but there's no reason he should be there," Allred said. "The trails were inaccessible during that time. It doesn't make a lot of sense why he would be there legitimately."
There were some marks on Timberlake's back. Investigators weren't sure if they were caused due to Timberlake being dragged or his body tumbling out of the snowpack.
"We're hoping someone can step forward and give us an idea of what he was doing the last time he was seen ... let us know what was going on in his life," Allred said.
Investigators were working Wednesday afternoon on obtaining a search warrant for Timberlake's apartment.
Anyone with information about Timberlake can call police at 576 6576.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com