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Gene Kennedy and Andrew Adams reportingA Utah woman probably was dead for three or more days when police discovered her body in a storage container in her car in Missouri, a coroner said.
Deborah Jones of Salt Lake City, who disappeared last week after complaining to police about her ex-boyfriend, died of asphyxiation, Taney County Coroner Kevin Tweedy said.
Her body was found Monday night in her car at a motel in Branson, Mo. Her ex-boyfriend, Michael Doyel, and another woman were taken into custody.
Jones, 50, likely was dead for three or four days, said Tweedy, who could not provide any other details. He said it was consistent with a homicide.
Michael Doyel has not been charged in connection with Deborah Jones' death, but he is charged with kidnapping the other woman, Patricia Murray. Court documents say he took her from a senior complex where she lived. The documents filed in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City say Murray cannot care for herself and has been living in assisted adult housing.
Murray is still in Missouri. She'll be heading home by the end of the week, while Doyel will be headed to another courtroom. At a court appearance in Forsyth, MO, Michael Doyel waived extradition. West Valley City police will bring him back to Utah Friday.
While on his way to a holding cell, he waved to the TV camera and professed his love for the woman found dead in the car he was driving there. "I love you Deborah Marie Jones," he said.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 miles away, where Patricia Murray lives, her friends are grateful she's OK. They say Michael Doyel manipulated her. The two met at her clubhouse, according to Murray's best friend, who did not want to be identified.
That friend said, "He was an ex-husband to one of the residents here. She wanted to learn how to use the computer, he was always on it, so he offered to help her with that, and that's how they met."
Kathy says a platonic friendship grew out of that but next-door neighbor Merle Meadows says there was more to it. "She said 'He's my boyfriend and if he has to go, I'm going with him.' She went on her own will. She said, ‘I am going with him.'"
Still, technically, it's kidnapping because only Murray's legal guardian can give her permission to leave the state. Nonetheless, she went off to Missouri with Doyel. Murray's friends say she had no idea Deborah Jones' body was inside the car.
Her friend said, "When I told her the body was in that container, I thought she was gonna pass out from the sound of her voice. She was very, very upset about it."
Neighbor Tom Mitchell said, "Pat certainly, if she would have known, she would have had no complicity in this and wouldn't have been involved at all."
It's unclear if Patricia Murray will face charges.
Murray's friends say Michael Doyel would ask about their incomes and they never felt safe around him.
A memorial service for Jones will be held at St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church this Saturday at 7 p.m. The church is located at 1375 Spring Lane in Salt Lake City. Monetary donations can be made to the Deborah Jones memorial account at any Wells Fargo Bank.
E-mail: gkennedy@ksl.com
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
