SOUTH JORDAN, Utah, Feb. 21, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Police have arrested a suspect on multiple felony charges in connection with the Thanksgiving 2022 discovery of a body found in the trunk of a burning car.
Dillon Edward Noble, 30, was arrested on suspicion of:
- Murder, a first-degree felony
- Aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony
- Aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury, a second-degree felony
- Obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony
South Jordan police discovered the burning vehicle near 11716 S. Bingham Rim Road on Nov. 24 of last year.
“The vehicle on fire was identified by the rear license plate … and inside the trunk of the vehicle, G.M. was located deceased,” Noble’s arrest documents say.
Family members later came forward to say the victim was 50-year-old Gino Montoya.
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, who has not yet been charged in the case, eventually led police to another man, Noble.
The Jaguar owner reportedly said “Dillon and G.M. got into an argument and (the car owner) was knocked unconscious, so he did not know how G.M. was killed,” Noble’s probable cause statement says.
The Jaguar owner later told investigators he saw Noble and another man load Montoya into the truck of Montoya’s car, and that Noble “stayed behind and destroyed the camera system” at the residence.
The Jaguar owner, who has not yet been charged, admitted to police, post Miranda, that he “lit the car on fire,” Noble’s probable cause statement says.
Noble has been booked into the Salt Lake County Jail, and was ordered held without bail.
