SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 27, 2026 (Gephardt Daily) — Police have announced an arrest, and released additional details after a body was found Monday in front of a Liberty Wells residence.
Tuesday night, detectives with the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Homicide Squad arrested a Bentley Estelvin Scow, 47, on suspicion of crimes including aggravated murder.
Police were called to the scene, near 1700 South and 300 East, at 6:41 a.m. Monday. A news release issued Wednesday says a man’s body was found on a sidewalk, near a utility cart. The victim, whose name is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin, had been wrapped in garbage bags and plastic.
Scow’s arrest document says a witness observed the suspect, a tall, thin Caucasian man, trying to push the cart from the roadway to the sidewalk, and the cart tipped over.
“This male then let out some expletives and immediately started running northbound, back towards 1700 South and out of sight.”
Surveillance video of the man was located.
Crime lab technicians and detectives processed the scene, and found the body had head injuries, contusions, and bruises to the neck.
An autopsy Tuesday determined the victim had suffered blunt force injuries to the head, and there evidence of asphyxiation. The death was determined to be a homicide.
After the victim was identified, officers learned his roommate had an active arrest warrant in connection with a retail theft investigation. SLCPD officers went to Scow’s residence, and found evidence of an altercation, including tipped-over furniture, red stains consistent with blood, and duct tape like that found on the body.
Post Miranda, Scow admitted he and the victim had been living together and were involved in a relationship. Scow said he got into an argument with the victim, identified in court documents as R.H., and said he had punched R.H. in the head multiple times.
Scow admitted to strangling R.H. with his forearm and then an electrical cord in order to kill him, the arrest document says. The police report says Scow described “a homicide that is especially heinous, atrocious, cruel,” and took several hours.
Scow also admitted, post Miranda, to attempting to dump the body into a dumpster to conceal it, the arrest document says.
Scow was booked into jail for investigation of alleged:
- Aggravarted murder, a first-degree felony
- Obsrtuctin of justice – capital/first-degree felony conduct, a second-degree felony
- Abuse/desecration of a dead human body, a third-degree felony
All had a domestic violence enhancement.
