UTAH COUNTY, Utah, Nov. 16, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A 19-year-old Mount Pleasant man has been arrested on a charge of criminal homicide related to the death of Wesley Dee Nay, who was found last month in Utah County, burned and buried in a shallow grave.
Detectives with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office arrested Raul Francisco Vidrio on Tuesday, according to a news release from spokesman Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
Nay, 22, also from Mount Pleasant, was reported missing on Sept. 18. Witnesses said they last saw him on Aug. 29, leaving a home in Mount Pleasant with Vidrio, the news release said. A witness described what Nay was wearing at that time.
On Oct. 20, hunters found Nay’s body in a shallow grave a short distance from Indianola in Sanpete County.
“Those remains were buried under one to two feet of soil,” the news release said. “While collecting the remains detectives discovered that the body appeared to have been badly burned. The Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed, through dental records, that the body was that of Wesley Nay. The Medical Examiner also reported that Nay had significant blunt force trauma likely due to an assault. He also had injuries indicating he had been cut or stabbed.”
On Sept. 1, Vidrio was arrested in Sandy. At that time he was in possession of a stolen pickup truck. In the truck at the time of his arrest were shovels, a pick, and gas jugs. Inside the truck was a backpack that belonged to Vidrio, and in that backpack was a large fixed-blade knife in a black leather sheath. DNA analysis confirmed that the blood inside the sheath was from Nay. Vidrio admitted to detectives that one of the shovels in the stolen pickup belonged to him.
During the investigation, detectives seized Vidrio’s cell phone and obtained a warrant to search it. An image reportedly shows Nay, apparently digging his own grave. That image shows Nay wearing the same clothing he was reported to have been wearing at the time he was last seen in Mount Pleasant.
During a search of Vidrio’s residence, detectives found a U.S. passport. Detectives believe he has close ties to family in Mexico.
Vidrio has been in custody since Sept. 1, but released by Salt Lake County on Tuesday, to be re-arrested by UCSO. He was booked into jail on charges of first-degree felony criminal homicide, second-degree felony obstruction of justice, and third-degree felony abuse or desecration of a dead human body. A Fourth District Court judge has set cash-only bail for Vidrio at $500,000.
This investigation remains active, and it is likely that additional arrests will be made.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the USCO Investigations Division at 801-851-4010 or to email Lt. Erik Knutzen at [email protected].
