Woman charged in connection with real estate agent’s death

Woman charged in connection with real estate agent’s death

(Courtesy of the Stokoe family)


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SALT LAKE CITY — A woman was charged Monday is connection with the death of a Salt Lake real estate agent.

Jessica Louise Miller, 38, address unknown, is now the third person charged in the shooting death of David Stokoe, 40.

On Jan. 18, Salt Lake police responded to a house at 878 Princeton Ave. to assist South Jordan police in looking for a missing man, Stokoe. His body was found partially wrapped in a sheet and a blanket inside a crawl space in a closet, according to charging documents.

A search of the home also revealed blood in the kitchen, bathroom, and a large amount of blood on the living room carpet, the charges state. The carpet had been ripped out and rolled into a bundle.

An empty package of latex gloves was also discovered. Investigators traced the sale of the gloves to a nearby WinCo where they obtained surveillance video of Miller, Diana Hernandez and Manuel Velasquez, according to the charges.

Velasquez and Miller were renting the upstairs apartment of the home from Stokoe, family members said. But problems with rent not being paid and concerns that more people might be living in the apartment than was agreed upon soon came up, according to Stokoe’s real estate company.

After his arrest, Velasquez said Miller and Stokoe had been arguing through text messages about rent. When Stokoe arrived at the house, the argument continued and Velasquez shot him three to four times, he told police in charging documents.

Diana Hernandez allegedly helped the couple move items from the house. She also told a witness that “something had happened and the guy ‘got what he deserved,’” the charges state.

After her arrest, Miller told investigators that she and Velasquez moved Stokoe’s body by using a skateboard, according to the charges.

Miller was charged in 3rd District Court Monday with obstructing justice, a first-degree felony; identity fraud, a second-degree felony; plus abuse or desecration of a dead body and forgery, third-degree felonies.

An autopsy determined Stokoe was shot four times.

A preliminary hearing for Velasquez, 32, who is charged with murder, is scheduled for Nov. 13. Hernandez, 20, was convicted of obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, in June and sentenced to a year in jail.

At the time of her arrest, Miller already had a warrant out for her arrest in one case and was on felony probation in another, the charges state.

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Pat Reavy is a longtime police and courts reporter. He joined the KSL.com team in 2021, after many years of reporting at the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio before that.

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