Police identified man involved in suspected murder-suicide

WEST VALLEY CITY — Police have identified a man found dead along with a woman inside his West Valley home earlier this month, adding Tuesday that a gun wasn't used in either death despite investigators' hunch that the incident was a murder-suicide.

Manuel "Miguel" Roque Garcia, 58, was found dead with 39-year-old Salt Lake woman Noelia Popoca inside a home in Mountain View Mobile Home Park, 2646 W. 2680 South, on or shortly before Oct. 11.

Police would not say Tuesday why they consider murder-suicide a strong possibility in the deaths. The two "had a sporadic romantic relationship," West Valley police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku said in a statement.

"On the surface … it appears to be a murder-suicide, but we never know what's going to come back in those autopsy reports," Vainuku said.

Police so far haven't identified a motive that would be the impetus in a murder-suicide scenario, she said. Vainuku declined to comment on whether Garcia or Popoca suffered obvious trauma or had been found with a note, and she didn't know how long they had been dead when they were discovered.

Vainuku said no sign of gunshot wounds were found on Garcia or Popoca. The state medical examiner's office is working to determine the cause of death. Garcia and Popoca were reportedly found in the same room of the mobile home.

Damian Bautista Popoca, 21, and Dulce Bautista Popoca, 19, said earlier this month that they were worried about their mother when she didn't come home Oct. 9.

Their mother was supposed to get her 11-year-old daughter ready for school and go to work that day, they said. That day was also Dulce's birthday, she said, but her mother didn't call.

Damian and Dulce Popoca found their mother's car parked at Mountain View Mobile Home Park and asked police to check on her there. Officers didn't see anything unusual after looking through Garcia's windows and couldn't do anything more for the Popocas because there was no evidence of a crime, according to Vainuku.

Noelia Popoca's children reportedly kept revisiting the trailer and were let in after finding another man home the morning of Oct. 11. Damain Popoca said he walked in and found the two dead bodies in one of the rooms. He said the other man in the trailer didn't know the bodies were there.

Vainuku didn't know who Damian Popoca was referring to specifically, but said Garcia had a roommate who was interviewed by detectives and "is not considered a participant in this in any way."

Damian and Dulce Popoca have said they knew Garcia, but didn't name him in interviews. They said they didn't know why their mother was at his home.

Dulce Popoca said earlier this month that her family is devastated.

"It's nothing you could ever get over because that's your mom. That's the lady that gave you your life every day. You run to her with your problems. That's your everything because it's your mother," she said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call West Valley police at 801-840-4000.

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