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DUCHESNE — A bizarre but brief crime spree left a man dead Tuesday and three stolen pickup trucks damaged.
The man's body was spotted near a demolished pickup truck about 5:45 a.m. by another driver, who called police. The man had been ejected after the truck went off 23000 West — known locally as Blacktail Dugway Road — and rolled 200 feet down the hillside, according to Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Jeff Chugg.
While troopers and Duchesne County sheriff's deputies were investigating the crash, the pickup truck's owner reported the vehicle stolen, Duchesne County Sheriff Travis Mitchell said. Two other people called to report their trucks had been stolen and crashed as well, the sheriff said.
All three trucks were stolen from homes along a four-mile stretch of the Old River Road north of Duchesne. Deputies believe the man who died in the early morning crash was responsible for all three incidents.
"It took awhile to sort it all out," Mitchell said. "We have some information that there was a party going on and apparently someone left the party and that's when the cars were stolen."
Investigators say the first stolen pickup truck was abandoned after the man crashed it into a roadside irrigation canal. That crash site was less than a quarter-mile from where the man attempted to steal the second truck, deputies said.
"He got it stuck in a ditch as he was trying to leave the residence," the sheriff said.
All three trucks were stolen from homes along a four-mile stretch of the Old River Road north of Duchesne.
The man then walked across the road to a third house, where he stole the truck he would later crash off Blacktail Dugway Road, the sheriff said.
The man did not have any identification on him at the time of his death, which complicated the investigation. However, three people who went to the sheriff's office Tuesday to report the man missing provided deputies with the man's name.
"We have a pretty good idea who it is," Mitchell said. "But we're still trying to make that positive identification and then notify family members."
Alcohol use is believed to be a "major factor" in the incident, said Mitchell, who noted that all three stolen trucks had been left unlocked with the keys inside.
"Had the keys been taken out of the vehicles, (the vehicles) wouldn't have been taken," the sheriff said. "This could happen any time, any place."
