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SANDY -- Police are investigating the suspicious shooting death of a Sandy woman as an apparent homicide.
Investigators say there are signs of foul play, but have not ruled out an accident or suicide.
Neighbor and friend Joe Tarraso called emergency dispatchers at 7:40 p.m. Tuesday saying a 33-year-old woman had gone into cardiac arrest. Tarraso claimed the woman's husband came to his house after finding his wife.
"It was all so fast," said Tarraso. "He said, ‘I need help. Just help me please. I think my wife is dead.'"
From there, Tarraso and the husband went to the house and saw the victim on the floor, covered in blood.
It was all so fast. He said, ‘I need help. Just help me please. I think my wife is dead.'
–Joe Tarraso
Sgt. Troy Arnold with the Sandy City Police Department says when officers arrived at the home near 11400 South and 1100 East they found the woman, Magda A. Aleman, dead. They also found what Arnold calls suspicious evidence and began an investigation.
"We believe there was a struggle that took place and that the victim did receive at least a gunshot wound," he says.
Officers executed a search warrant and gathered evidence at the home overnight. They did not say what was found, but say there was no sign of forced entry into the home.
Police have not identified any persons of interest yet. They have interviewed the woman's husband.
"We know the husband met with our investigators and that he is currently with family members and helping with his children," said Arnold.
Investigators are now piecing together a timeline of who was at the house when Aleman died.
Aleman lived with her husband and children, but her children were at Tarraso's home at the time of the shooting.
The medical examiner will perform an autopsy on the body with hopes of finding out more about what happened.
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Story compiled with contributions from Anne Forester, Sarah Dallof and Randall Jeppesen.
