MILLCREEK, Utah, Jan. 21, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Arrest documents reveal more details in the fatal shooting of a Salt Lake City woman whose body was found near a Millcreek dumpster.
Fred Jason Edwards, 46, was arrested at 1:03 p.m. Saturday, hours after the 6:20 a.m. discovery of the body of Esperanza Chavez, 25. Surveillance footage revealed her body had been dumped at 12:28 a.m. that morning by someone driving a black pickup truck. A license plate identified the owner of the vehicle as Edwards.
Edwards has a documented domestic violence history with victim Chavez, who described him as her boyfriend in an affidavit filed for a previous alleged assault.
Edwards’ affidavit says that on Saturday, Unified police located the body of Chavez near 3994 S. 300 West, “on the ground, leaning against the dumpster. She was deceased with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Detectives reviewed video surveillance in the complex the victim was located in. It shows a black Chevy 1500 pickup” with a partially broken passenger side window, the affidavit says.
“The vehicle drives to the dumpsters on the west end of the complex. A black male, wearing all black clothing and wearing white tennis shoes, gets out of the driver’s side. He goes to the passenger side of the vehicle and pulls E.C.’s body out of the vehicle. As he pulled her out of the vehicle the damaged passenger window shattered. He attempts twice to put her in the dumpster with no success. He then drops her on the north side of the dumpster, on the ground. The truck then leaves.”
Detectives found Edwards “was attempting to admit himself into the University of Utah Psychiatric Hospital.” He was located in the waiting room, and was taken into custody. His black pickup was located nearby, and had a broken passenger side window, the statement says. Edwards was wearing different clothing than in the video, but had on white tennis shoes.
Post Miranda, Edwards “admitted that he and E.C. were involved in an intimate relationship. He states that he was driving around in his truck all night but had nothing to do with E.C.’s death. He also denies that he pulled E.C.’s body out of his vehicle and dumped her out by a dumpster. After he was told that we had video surveillance of him dumping her body from his truck, he still denied involvement.”
The UPD officer’s statement also noted that “Edwards is a documented King Mafia Disciple (KMD) gang member. He has a violent criminal history to include many assaults, mayhem, resisting arrest, threats, retaliation against a witness and escape from custody.”
“This is a homicide with evidence to support the charge,” the affidavit says. Edwards was booked at 6:31 p.m. Saturday for investigation of:
- Murder, a first-degree felony
- Obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony
- Abuse or desecration of dead human body, a third-degree felony
He was ordered to be held without bail in the Salt Lake County jail system.
