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WEBER CITY (AP) -- A murder along a busy highway on the Davis-Weber County line Christmas Day left officers with little to go on in their search for a suspect.
Deputies received a call around 10:20 in the morning from a passer-by who saw a man either beating or stabbing another man next to a white van parked alongside Highway 84. The witness drove forward a little way before pulling off to the side. That's when the witness saw the van pull back onto the highway, and the witness called 911.
The victim was already dead when deputies arrived to the scene. His hands were bound with electrical cord and his eyes were taped shut, deputies said.
"It appeared he had been stabbed multiple times in the chest," said Lt. Brad Wilcox, Davis County Sheriff's Office.
The man appeared to be in his 20s. Officers described him as very well-kept, with short black hair and a shortly trimmed mustache.
"He had on a green sweater with a black stripe across the chest, black Levis, black dress socks, and black dress shoes," said Wilcox.
Though police do not normally give out such detailed descriptions of the victim, Wilcox said the man had no identification and investigators hoped the information "might jog somebody's memory."
The body was found in a wooded area alongside Highway 84, which runs along the Weber River near South Weber.
It is not uncommon to see a vehicle parked on the side of the road, Wilcox said, because people often walk to the Weber River to fish.
Initially, officers thought the man might have been killed in a different location, then dumped along the highway. But the witness claimed he saw the victim and suspect, both described as Hispanic, walking.
The witness also told police that the roads were busy at the time of the murder and that more people likely witnessed the crime.
The vehicle is described as a white, early-1980s model Chevrolet or Ford van. There are no suspects, but officers urge any witnesses or anyone with information about the victim to call the Davis County Sheriff's Office.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
