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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 19, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Salt Lake City police have revealed new details in the death of a South Jordan man who went missing Thursday, and whose body was found late Friday in Salt Lake City.
Police also announced the arrest of three suspects in the case.
Salt Lake City Police spokesman Detective Greg Wilking said the body of David Stokoe, 40, was found hidden in a crawl space of the apartment where he was last known to be heading.
Stokoe, who was employed in real estate, had gone to a Salt Lake City apartment near 900 East and Princeton Avenue to talk to tenants about either paying rent or being evicted, Wilking said.
“An altercation took place,” he said. “At this point, it looks like he (Stokoe) died from a gunshot … It unfolded very quickly once he was there.”
Sent by South Jordan police, the SLCPD went to the apartment Friday on a welfare check, and found “very suspicious” evidence suggesting a crime, Wilking said.
It wasn’t until later in the evening, when a full and intensive search was made of the apartment, that police found that Stokoe’s body was located in a hidden compartment or crawl space associated with the apartment.
Three people have been arrested in the case, taken into custody at a South Salt Lake apartment complex early Saturday morning. The suspects have been identified as:
- Manuel Velasquez, 31, has been booked on suspicion of homicide and some related charges, such as discharge of a firearm
- Diana Hernandez, 30, and Jessica Miller, 38, each have been charged with obstruction of justice, a charge stemming from their efforts to help clean up the apartment and conceal the crime, Wilking said.
West Valley Police located Stokoe’s missing Cadillac Escalade on Saturday morning, and police took a man and woman inside the vehicle into custody. Wilking said the woman has been released and the man has been returned to jail on unrelated charges related to parole violation.
“They did not have any connection to the homicide,” he said of the couple in the Escalade. “It is quite common for vehicles to be stolen in the drug world. People lend vehicles out … That’s what appears to be the circumstance in this particular case.”
Wilking clarified that some of the arrestees appeared to have connections to the “drug world” as users.
He added that Stokoe was an innocent victim who had no connections to the drug world, and was just doing his job when he was killed.
Wilking thanked officers from his agency and all others involved for their diligent work overnight. The work will continue, he said.
“There’s a lot to this investigation, and a lot more to come.”
Wilking said Stokoe’s family has been notified of all developments.
“(We send) our condolences to family and friends of the victim.”
