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GUNNISON — A Gunnison man was found dead in an LDS church parking lot Tuesday morning after he cut himself on a broken window and bled and froze to death, police say.
The Gunnison Valley Police Department received reports at 7:30 a.m. of a deceased man lying in the parking lot of the LDS church located at 100 N. 100 West in Gunnison, according to Gunnison Police Chief Brett McCall.
Ricardo Valencia, a 21-year-old Hispanic man, had been drinking alcohol at a nearby residence when an altercation ensued. Valencia punched a glass kitchen door and cut himself near his upper right bicep near the brachial artery, McCall said.
He then left the residence and stumbled to the LDS church parking lot two blocks away where he lost consciousness, according to police.
"At that point he was losing a significant amount of blood," McCall said. "There was a blanket found at the scene that had substantial blood saturated in the blanket and around the body."
"There was actually a trail of blood from the residence to where the body was located, so we believe he lost blood enough to either pass out or lose consciousness and then, due to exposure and the elements, he expired due to both of those things."
The investigation is still ongoing, but those at the residence where Valencia was drinking confirmed much of what police had expected, according to McCall.
Valencia had just been released from the Sanpete County Jail on Monday and was still under the supervision of Adult Probation and Parole, the chief said.
By Tuesday afternoon, McCall said more than 30 people had been interviewed by police and at least one search warrant was served on a house in Gunnison.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Gunnison Valley Police Department at 435-835-2345.
More information will be released as it is received.
Liesl is a web reporter at KSL.com, section editor of KSL's Tech and Science section and a student at Brigham Young University. You can email her at lnielsen@deseretdigital.com.
