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SALT LAKE CITY — A man found dead in the office of a downtown Salt Lake storage facility was severely beaten and his body wasn't discovered until days after his death, according to charging documents.
Nathan David Evans, 41, who police say is homeless, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony, and abuse of a dead body, a third-degree felony.
David Hinkebein, 65, was found deceased and badly beaten on Jan. 3 inside A Place for Your Stuff, 502 W. 300 South, which is also commonly referred to as the "TSP" or Temporary Storage Place, a small building that offers free storage for people experiencing homelessness.
Another worker at the facility told police that the last time he saw Hinkebein was with Evans, and they were both working the night of Dec. 29, according to charging documents.
On Jan. 1, when the employee returned to work, he "walked to the back office area looking for David and Evans yelled to him, 'He's not back there!' About 20 minutes later, (the employee) walked to the back office and observed bloody handprints on the wall and blood-stained carpet," according to charging documents. "(The employee) asked Evans if David was OK, and Evans said David was fine."
The next night, the employee again asked Evans about Hinkebein, who this time responded, "He's done!" the charges state.
"(The employee) could not get any additional information from Evans. (He) then reported the mess to the office and that David was possibly dead," according to the charges.
Police were called and searched the back office area where officers found a hammer with blood on it as well as bloody clothes next to Hinkebein's body, according to charging documents. An autopsy found "at least 15 sharp/blunt force injuries to the head consistent with a hammer" in addition to "at least three sharp force injuries to the neck/throat" that were determined to have occurred after Hinkebein was already dead.
As detectives continued to collect evidence, they talked to a van driver who transports people from the Salt Lake shelter to the warehouse. He told police he recalled Evans being angry and that Evans claimed "he was going down to a warehouse and was going to … 'kill a guy down there by bashing his head in,'" charging documents allege. "The male was going to do that because the guy messed with his stuff and the male did not like the way he was being treated."
Investigators also collected DNA evidence from Evans, who was arrested on Jan. 3.
Correction: An earlier version incorrectly spelled David Hinkebein's name as Hinkelbein.
