Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LAYTON — Layton police investigating a stabbing and a hit-and-run crash early Tuesday soon discovered that the two incidents were connected.
About 5:30 a.m., officers were called to a hit-and-run near 90 N. Main.
"The suspect vehicle was located a short distance away, crashed and abandoned in a parking lot near Gentile Street and Main Street in Layton city," according to a Davis County Jail report.
A "large amount of blood" was found on the outside of the car, the report states.
About 15 minutes later, officers were called to Davis Hospital where a man who had been stabbed multiple times had driven himself to the emergency room, according to the report. While en route to the hospital, officers spotted Michael Ray Mendoza, 32, of West Valley City, walking in the same area where the abandoned car was found, the report states.
Investigators searched Mendoza and discovered he was carrying a "bloody knife."
"Mendoza had a large amount of blood on his arm that did not appear to be from him. Inside of Mendoza’s pants pockets was also blood," according to the report.
Investigators soon pieced together that the stabbing victim and Mendoza had been at the same house on New Year's Eve and had gotten into a heated argument. The man told detectives "he and Michael were arguing about something but didn’t remember what the argument was about," the report states.
The victim was stabbed in the chest twice.
"At the time of this writing, (the victim) is alive in critical but stable condition," the report states.
Mendoza was arrested for investigation of attempted murder.
