SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 12, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Third District Count documents for the latest arrest in the Thanksgiving burning car death of a Salt Lake City man provide a horrific accounting of the crime.Chiefly, that the battered victim was likely still alive when his assailants set fire to his Mercedes Benz with him in the trunk.
Prosecutors this week announced the firth arrest in the Nov. 24, 2022 killing of Joseph “Gino” Montoya, 50. His body was found in the trunk of the Mercedes after the fire was doused at 11716 S. Bingham Rim Road in South Jordan.
The first arrest in the case came in February of this year with Dillon Edward Noble, 30, charged with murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault and obstruction of justice.
Investigators learned the Drug Enforcement Administration had a tracker on a car, a Jaguar, that had been at the location where the burning car and body were discovered.
An investigation into the Jaguar owner eventually led police to another man, Noble, according to Noble’s charging documents.
The Jaguar owner reportedly said “Dillon and (Montoya) got into an argument and (the Jaguar owner) was knocked unconscious, so he did not know how (Montoya) was killed,” Noble’s probable cause statement says.
In Tuesday’s court filings naming Cavell Eddie Tupai, 30, as the fifth defendant, co-defendants along with Dillon Noble are listed as Denis H. Madsen, Caile E. Noble and John Ace Shields. Tupai was apparently not present when the other defendants set the car on fire, according to his arrest documents.
Tupai, post Miranda, said Dillon Noble beat Montoya repeatedly, even after he was unconscious, according to charging documents. Tupai said he watched the other defendants load the body into the trunk, according to his probable cause affidavit. “Tupai said since he was Dillon’s guest, he went to help load the body ‘out of respect.'”
On November 25, 2022, Dr. J. Brent Davis, assistant medical examiner, performed an autopsy on Montoya and determined the cause of death to be multiple traumatic injuries and the manner of death to be homicide, according to the probable cause affidavit for Tupai.
“Moreover, during the autopsy, Dr. Davis found soot in Gino’s trachea, which Dr. Davis concluded was evidence that Gino had been alive and breathing to some extent after the fire had been set to the Mercedes.
“Additionally, Dr. Davis determined that Gino had suffered a broken nose, skull fracture and broken trachea.”
