- Kevin Van Beuge, 60, was found dead in Tooele after being reported missing.
- Jeffrey Maurico Lopez, 32, was arrested for investigation of murder, robbery and desecration.
- Police say Lopez killed Van Beuge, then tried using his bank cards at ATMs.
HERRIMAN — A missing Herriman man — who left his home believing he was about to buy auto parts from another man — was shot and killed and his body left in his truck for over a day as the gunman drove around before eventually dumping the body in Tooele, police say.
Jeffrey Maurico Lopez, 32, was arrested in connection with the death of Kevin Van Beuge, 60, of Herriman. He was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Monday for investigation of aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and abuse or desecration of a dead body.
Van Beuge was reported missing by his family on Sunday. He left his home early Saturday "to meet an unknown individual to purchase vehicle parts," according to a police booking affidavit. He was last heard from about 2:15 p.m. Saturday. Police found Van Beuge's truck in Taylorsville.
"Significant amounts of blood were located near the vehicle and later discovered on the frame of the vehicle," the affidavit states.
Police recovered surveillance video showing the truck being dropped off.
"This video shows the vehicle arrive at the location and an unknown Hispanic male walked away from the vehicle holding what appeared to be a firearm in his hand," according to the affidavit.
Investigators also discovered a Venmo payment made about 6 a.m. Saturday from Van Beuge's account to Lopez.
"A records search for Lopez revealed his home address as being a short distance from the vehicle's recovery location," police wrote in the arrest report.
Herriman police say a "multi-jurisdictional and expansive search" for Van Beuge was launched and after obtaining several search warrants for GPS coordinates, investigators were led to an undisclosed "remote" location in Tooele County.
"This location was searched and a shallow grave was located. Within the grave, a deceased adult male was located and was later identified as Kevin Van Beuge. An autopsy was conducted and the preliminary finding indicated Kevin's cause of death was due to gunshot wounds to the right arm and chest," the affidavit states.
Detectives further learned that Van Beuge had gone to a business in Murray on Saturday morning. Police located Lopez at the same business and took him into custody.
"Lopez stated he met with Kevin on several occasions to sell Kevin vehicle parts. He stated (that) Kevin met with him at the business early in the morning on Saturday. Lopez then claimed he and Kevin went together to several locations in Tooele, Salt Lake and Wasatch counties to use Kevin's bank card at different ATMs," according to the affidavit.
Lopez then claimed someone else picked up Van Beuge, who left without his truck.
However, "receipts and security videos from several of the ATM transactions show a male in a homemade mask alone in a vehicle attempting these transactions. Many of the transactions failed. Other obtained security videos showed Lopez park Kevin's truck at a grocery store, enter the store alone and purchase gloves and the material used to make the mask," the affidavit says.
Investigators concluded that "Lopez lured the victim to a location under the guise of selling vehicle parts, shot the victim, loaded the victim into the bed of the victim's vehicle, attempted multiple financial transactions using various types of payment methods belonging to the victim, and drove to various locations throughout three separate counties," the affidavit alleges. "Lopez left the victim in the bed of the truck for over a day until he located a secluded location to bury the victim in a shallow grave."
Police say the investigation into Van Beuge's death is still ongoing.
Correction: A previous version misspelled Lopez's first name as Jerrfrey.
