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MURRAY — The girlfriend of a man shot and killed in Murray has been arrested for allegedly not being truthful with police.
Vanessa Lucia Arnold, 40, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Thursday for investigation of obstruction of justice.
On Sept. 29, Murray police were called to 125 E. 4800 South about 1:50 a.m. on a report of a shooting. Carlos Jhovany Huerta-Garcia, 22, was found just inside the front door of the home with a gunshot wound. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. As of Friday, the alleged gunman had not been arrested.
Arnold, who was in the home at the time of the shooting, told detectives that she was in her room "for about 24 hours prior to the shooting except one time briefly to clean something," according to a police booking affidavit.
But police obtained surveillance video from a nearby business that showed the back of the residence. The video recorded Arnold "going back and forth from the residence to a camper trailer multiple times with a male for over an hour prior to the shooting," the affidavit states.
The male has been identified as a family member, according to the affidavit. The family member "was seen on video leaving the scene in a vehicle seconds after the gunshot."
Despite being told about the video, and despite a second family member confirming the first family member was present, Arnold "continues to deny (the family member) was ever present or even that she was outside engaged in any sort of activity possibly related to the homicide. She has continued to deny this even when confronted with the obtained evidence.
"Vanessa knowingly gave wrong information about who else was at the residence, first claiming the male who drove the vehicle was named Ismael and later called the person Israel in a separate interview, not keeping her story straight," the affidavit continued.
Police further stated in the affidavit that they believe Arnold "is purposefully withholding known information about the suspect and events related to the homicide in this investigation and is possibly still in contact with him."
