SALT LAKE CITY — A woman found under a mattress at a Salt Lake motel may have been dead four or five days before her body was discovered.
The woman was identified Friday as Jessica Irene Jensen, of Layton. According to court records, her 26th birthday would have been Monday, when she may already have been dead.
Salt Lake police have arrested Thomas Kumalac, 28, and booked him into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of murder in connection with Jensen's death. He was also booked for investigation of witness tampering and obstruction of justice.
Thursday, detectives announced they were looking for Kumalac for questioning to find out what he knew about a woman's body found in Room 12 at the Capitol Motel, 1749 S. State. Investigators found him late Thursday as he allegedly tried to flee to Wendover.
"He admitted to actively causing her death," a Salt Lake County Jail report states.
The state medical examiner believes Jensen had been dead four to five days before her body was found early Thursday, according to the report.
Kumalac had rented the room from May 27 through May 31. He used his identification card from New Jersey to rent the room, the report states.
Police identified Jensen through fingerprints and located her stepmother. She said she was familiar with Kumalac and his girlfriend and that he had given her stepdaughter a ride to Salt Lake City in December of 2009, the report states.
"Words cannot express how we feel at the loss of our 'baby girl.' She is sorely missed by us all," said Jensen's father, Mike Jensen.
He told the Deseret News he had spoken with his daughter on the phone last Thursday and the family had wished her a happy birthday. He described Jessica, the youngest of seven children, as a lovely, talented girl.
"We just want her life to be praised," he said.
Jessica Jensen was born in Ogden and attended Uintah Elementary, Central Davis Jr. High and Layton High School before graduating as the valedictorian from Mountain High School in Kaysville.
She suffered from bi-polar disorder, her father said, and in addition to her various medications, she had a history of using illegal drugs.
"People with mental health (disorders), they can go in many directions," Mike Jensen said. "No one person's mental health is the same."
He said the family did not know where she was living at the time of her death but they were in contact with her. "She did what she did," he said.
When he got the phone call about his daughter's death, he said it was exactly what the family dreaded. Jessica leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter, who lives with her family.
The investigation began Wednesday night when a woman checked into the same motel room and complained to management about a horrible smell.
When a hotel staff member went to check it out, they lifted the mattress off the bed and found the body of a woman, covered by a towel, inside the wooden box bed frame.
The cause of death has not been released.
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