SPANISH FORK, Utah, July 8, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Police are investigating a possible homicide after a body was found today.
Early this morning officials were dispatched to the area of 1200 North 400 East, where the body had been found next to a dumpster, according to a Spanish Fork Police Department statement.
“Upon arriving at the scene, officers and Spanish Fork Fire & EMS determined that a middle-aged adult male was deceased. Officers believe the man to be homeless and have not yet identified the victim.”
The body was found shortly after 6 a.m.
As to the suspicious circumstances, Lt. Brandon Anderson, a public information officer for the Spanish Fork Police force, said it appeared the body had been moved.
Moved, he said, from a location about 100 yards away in the city’s North Park, as it’s known, which he described as “another location where suspicious activity had occurred.”
Items were found at that location which were related to where the body was found, he told Gephardt Daily. “So our detectives are looking at two possible crime scenes.”
Also suspicious was “the way the body was situated” where it was found, Anderson said, and wounds were obvious.
He stressed he couldn’t say more without compromising the investigation while noting there is no further danger to the general public.
Police have identified the deceased as a local man in his 50s who’d recently become homeless, he said, but are not releasing the name pending notification of next of kin.
The cause of death is yet to be determined, but “circumstances are suspicious, and (the death) is being investigated as a homicide,” according to the release issued at 1 p.m.
Police are working with the state medical examiner to determine the cause of death. This is a developing story, and no other details were immediately available.
