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Investigators are trying to piece together what happened right before a young Layton woman was killed.
Twenty-six-year-old Noemi Rodriguez was found dead in Huntsville on Friday by a snowplow driver. Today, her family members found her car in an Ogden parking lot.
"The whole family is in a state of shock, and the mother especially is taking this hard," said Capt. Klint Anderson, with the Weber County Sheriff's Office.
Rodriguez had been living at her parents' house in Layton the past couple weeks. On Christmas morning, she got up and left for work. "That's the last they saw her. They expected her home that evening. She didn't show up," Anderson said.
Rodriguez's parents figured she had stayed at a friend's home, but when she didn't call the next day, they started to worry. "Even the parents aren't really clear on exactly what happened," Anderson said.
So, they reported her missing to Layton City police on Friday. When police learned Rodriguez's ex, 33-year-old Gutberto Heras-Corrales, lived in Ogden, they made a call up there. That's when Weber County Sheriff's Office realized Rodriguez matched the body found at a Huntsville Cemetery.
Investigators aren't saying how Rodriguez died but admit there was some evidence of trauma, including blood at the scene. "You can speculate, but right now we are looking at him as a person of interest, and we're really interested in talking to him," Anderson said.
Heras-Corrales was last seen in a 2003 burgundy Ford F-150 with a Utah license plate numbered: A969MZ. Detectives say an eyewitness saw a similar vehicle in the Huntsville Cemetery on Christmas night before midnight.
Today, it was Rodriguez's car that was discovered. "Her stepfather was out with some other family members driving through town, looking up some of her friends, trying to help piece together what happened, and they came across her car.
That was at the Ogden Lodge. Managers say Rodriguez stayed there Dec. 18 and her car had been parked since Friday. Those managers wouldn't talk on camera, but they did say Rodriguez wasn't a stranger to the motel.
Investigators say Rodriguez and Heras-Corrales were actually living together, along with Rodriguez's children, in a Layton mobile home up until a couple weeks ago. They say a fire forced them to move out.
Detectives are searching for any clues that may be in Rodriguez's car. If you have any information, please call the Weber County Sheriff's Office at 801-395-8221.
E-mail: ngonzales@ksl.com
