MIDVALE — Ongoing arguments between off-and-on roommates apparently came to a head early Saturday when police say one man killed the other.
Emergency dispatchers received a call about 3:20 a.m. from someone who only gave an address, 584 E. Carmel Drive (7400 South), and hung up, said Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal.
When officers arrived to check out the unknown problem they found the front door ajar, Hoyal said. As they approached, someone shut the door from the inside.
The officers set up a perimeter around the duplex. A short time later, a 23-year-old man exited the back door and was taken into custody without incident, Hoyal said.
When officers did a subsequent check of the home, they found David Woodrow Brown, 47, dead in the entryway. The exact cause of death was unknown Saturday, but Hoyal said it appeared the victim suffered blunt force trauma to his upper torso.
Christopher Wiggins, 23, was arrested for investigation of homicide. He and Brown lived in the upstairs portion of the duplex, Hoyal said. The two men had been roommates on and off and had had several disagreements in the past, he said. The 23-year-old man was in the process of moving out of the duplex, Hoyal said.
"All these disagreements came to a head today," Hoyal said.
Hoyal said investigators believed that based on what the inside of the duplex looked like, the two had a struggle that went throughout the home.
According to Utah State Court records, Wiggins was charged in February with domestic violence in the presence of a child and damaging a phone. He pleaded guilty to damaging the communications device in exchange for the domestic violence charge being dropped.
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