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SALT LAKE CITY — When police discovered the body of missing Kearns woman Nicole Solorio-Romero, they did not announce the discovery to local media outlets. At least, not immediately.
KSL TV reported that Solorio-Romero's remains were found on March 26, but that information wasn't released to the public or to the media until April 2.
When asked on KSL Newsradio's Dave & Dujanovic show why police stayed quiet with the information, longtime Salt Lake City lawyer Greg Skordas said that police have to follow specific protocol after finding a body.
"First of all, they would have to identify the body and make sure that in fact, it was the body of this deceased woman. And, have the medical examiner do their examination to make sure of that," Skordas said.
Then there's the importance of making sure that the family knows, before the media.
"Typically, law enforcement would want the family, the victim's family, to know that she had been found before they alert the public," he said.
Finally, according to Skordas, it can benefit investigators if officials were to keep a temporary secret.
"The district attorneys would want to keep their information, their investigation, their findings at least secret until they can get those charges filed so that other individuals who ended up getting charged, don't flee," Skordas said.
Listen to the full conversation with Dave & Dujanovic above, then tune in for more content like this weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
