SOUTH JORDAN, Utah Dec. 21, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Police have released new details in the investigation of a Thanksgiving car fire, which revealed a body inside after the flames were doused.
Sgt. Eric Anderson, a South Jordan PD public information officer, Tuesday confirmed the body was found in the car’s trunk.
Police and firefighters responded about 7 p.m. Thanksgiving day to the fire near 11700 S. Bingham Rim Road. “The firefighters were able to quickly put the fire out, at which point one deceased occupant was discovered,” police said at the time. No other details were released except that the incident was being investigated as a suspicious death.
By early December the case had been “reclassified” as a homicide, Anderson said. It is believed the burned vehicle belonged to the deceased, he said, who was not a South Jordan resident. He couldn’t release any other details, circumstances, or autopsy results.
The deceased has been identified, but Anderson said he was not authorized to release the name. He noted family has reached out to media with the name. Lt. Case Winder, the department’s chief PIO, would only say more information could be released this week.
Family members in the media identified the deceased as Gino Montoya, 50, and shared memories of him as beloved, having overcome his troubled youth. As did obituaries for Joseph Lee “Gino” Montoya of Salt Lake City.
