Draper police think man found Saturday was murdered

Becky Bruce and Gene Kennedy reportingDraper police have a suspicious death on their hands. Investigators are treating it as a homicide.

Over the weekend, the body of a 29-year-old Eric Timberlake was found in southeast Draper. Timberlake would have turned 30 years old next month. But instead, Draper police say they're looking for his killer.

On Saturday, hikers noticed the body in a drainage area. How he died and how he got there is the mystery.

Once the snow began to melt, a startling discovery was made just across the street from the South Mountain Golf Course on 1247 Mike Weir Dr. A body was found in a drainage ditch, and the location is part of the suspicion. Draper Police Department Sgt. Gerald Allred said, "We don't have any reason why Mr. Timberlake would be in the area. He has a home in Salt Lake City and frequents that area, but we've never had contact with him in Draper."

Allred went on to say, "There are some hiking trails, but with the winter conditions we've had over the past few weeks, it'd be very unlikely that he'd be hiking there and have some kind of accident or something."

The résumé on his body gave them a starting point that led them to a prior arrest for public intoxication in Salt Lake City and his fingerprints. What they don't know is how he wound up in the drainage ditch.

"It's not really remote, it's pretty much just a few feet off the road. However, it's because we've had some major snowfall this year it would have been, up until recently, pretty covered in snow," explained Sgt. Allred.

Allred said there were also some markings on the body that may be drag marks. He says it is possible that Timberlake was killed elsewhere and dumped in the drainage ditch.

Investigators say the autopsy revealed it had been near that grate for two weeks, maybe even a month.

Investigators want to narrow down the time of the death and figure out what killed Timberlake. "The autopsy didn't show any signs of force or trauma, so the death is really suspicious, and we're looking at it as a possible homicide," Allred said.

Investigators are waiting for toxicology results to see if Timberlake had drugs in his system.

Meantime, Draper police hope people who were last with Eric Timberlake will come forward.

Investigators say his family lives in Virginia, and they're very shaken up at news of his death.

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