SPRINGVILLE — A Payson man has been arrested in connection with a fatal shooting early Sunday morning.
Victor Hugo Contreras-Nathanson, 25, was arrested Monday on investigation of murder and obstruction of justice, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The shooting victim was identified Monday as 29-year-old Lazaro A. Nieves of Springville.
Police found the body of Nieves, referred to in the affidavit as Lazaro Morales, under a train overpass near 1600 South and 300 East in Springville, according to the affidavit. His body was near “what appeared to be fresh graffiti on the concrete wall.”
Nieves’s landlord told investigators that Nieves had been with Contreras-Nathanson that night, approximately an hour before the body was discovered, according to the affidavit. Nieves’s body was found about 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
When reached by police, Contreras-Nathanson told investigators he had been with Nieves for most of the day, and said the two men had been smoking cocaine and methamphetamine, the investigating officer wrote. Contreras-Nathanson told police that by 10 p.m. Saturday night, he “was so high, he couldn’t remember anything that happened after that,” according to the affidavit.
He also told investigators that there had been a gun in the trunk of his car, but that the gun was no longer there, according to the affidavit.
“When Contreras was asked whether he could have shot Morales, Contreras indicated it was possible,” the affidavit states.
Tire marks found near Nieves’s body matched the tires of Contreras-Nathanson’s car, according to the affidavit.
Contreras-Nathanson was jailed Monday, with bail set at $250,000.