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SALT LAKE CITY — Alexia Ramos said her father was a good dad growing up and an "amazing" grandfather.
And even though her father, Joseph Salas, 49, and her mother had fallen on hard times, Salas, she said, always tried to be there for his grandchildren when he could and always acted in a loving manner.
That's why she doesn't understand who would want to kill her father.
"Nobody would ever do something like this to him. That's what's so confusing about this," she told KSL.com. "He got taken away too soon, it wasn't fair."
On June 9, Salas' body was found in the Jordan River near the Utah State Fairpark at 1300 W. North Temple. Salt Lake police determined his death was the result of a homicide but as of Thursday had not released how he was killed. No one has been arrested and no motive has been released.
Salas was one of 15 siblings and his family owned a Mexican restaurant, Ramos said. It was her father's dream to one day own a food truck of his own.
Ramos was a year old when Salas married her mother. She said he "took me under his wing" and was a "cool and amazing" father to her. Salas had a love for the outdoors, particularly hunting and fishing, and tried to share that passion with his children and grandchildren.
Some of those "precious moments" he spent with his grandchildren were recorded, and Ramos has video memories of her father holding her son and talking to him about fishing.
In recent years, Salas and Ramos' mother had fallen on hard times and were homeless. Family members cared for them as they could and Salas would still see his grandchildren.
Now, Ramos hopes someone with information about her father's death will step forward.
"Even just a little bit of answers, just please come forward," Ramos pleaded. "(My brother and I) have no idea what to even do at this point. We're in our 20s and didn't think this would ever happen to us.
"We all just want answers and to be at peace and know that we were able to get those answers," she said. "So he can lay in peace as well."
