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Sandra Yi and John Daley Reporting Salt Lake Police say they believe a husband and wife from Farmington who died in a burning SUV set the fire themselves and had a suicide pact.
The pair had a drug history and warrants out for their arrests.
After looking at video from a surveillance camera police think they know what happened here Saturday.
As for a motive, they still don't know. But we discovered today the pair was facing felony drug charges and possible jail time.
The scene today at the downtown Maverik station, located at 161 West 600 South, is decidedly eerie. On the back side of the building smoke and burn marks hint at the blazing fire here two days ago.
Just what happened was a mystery and is still under investigation since an SUV with two people inside erupted in flames Saturday. Today the police released their preliminary findings.
Det. Robin Snyder, Salt Lake City Police Department: "At this point we're investigating a suicide pact. What we can see from the surveillance video is an SUV that pulls up to a pump. A male gets out of the driver side. They both go over to the gas pump and the male sprays gas inside while the female is standing next to him."
The pair got back into the car, drove around to the back of the building and within seconds the vehicle burst into flames.
Police identify the victims as 26-year-old Dustin Riley and his wife Andrea, 27. A search of court documents shows both have had brushes with the law.
Davis County Prosecutor Rick Westmoreland is familiar with the couple.
Rick Westmoreland: "We had no indication of mental health problems or any issues other than just their drug abuse." Last month, Duston Riley skipped a court hearing on drug charges. The charges stemmed from a police search last summer, which found traces of heroin in his home.
Prosecutors say, two months later, Duston overdosed on the drug.
Police also found traces of heroin on Andrea Riley, after investigators caught her trying to return items at a store, she allegedly bought with a bad check. A judge issued an arrest warrant when she failed to show up for sentencing the day after Christmas.
Prosecutors believe Andrea would have spent 6 months in jail.
Rick Westmoreland: "So she probably would have done less than 180 days if she was sentenced to that, and probably some drug treatment."
A family friend, who did not want to talk on camera, blamed drugs, for what happened. She told Eyewitness News, the Rileys were the nicest, most caring couple, who became consumed by drugs. Their deaths stunned her and others.
Rick Westmoreland: "We don't want anybody to die. Drugs are not the end all, be all of somebody's life. A conviction for that isn't the end. So I'm assuming there was something more going on in their lives than just this."
Police say from looking at the video they believe it was a suicide pact.
Det. Robin Snyder, Salt Lake City Police Department: "They were over there when he was spraying the inside. It didn't look like the female was being forced to do anything."
The Davis County Attorney's office tells us both of them were facing a pair of 3rd degree felony drug charges.
Each charge carried the possibility of zero to five years in jail.
