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WEST VALLEY CITY -- A disturbing phone call prompted a family to call police. What officers found led to an arrest for murder.
Police found 55-year-old Maralee Andreason dead in her West Valley City apartment Tuesday night. It wasn't long before police found the woman's boyfriend, 44-year-old Thomas James Valdez, and arrested him for murder.
James Valdez's uncle Raymond Garcia said his nephew had made statements in the past about being violent, which raised some concerns, but he said Valdez would always claim he was kidding.
This time when Valdez called his sister and said that he had killed his girlfriend, his family knew it wasn't joke.
"I could tell in my niece's voice it wasn't right," Garcia said.
Tuesday morning Garcia said he received a call from his niece claiming that her brother, Valdez, may have just committed a murder.
"We didn't know if that meant that he harmed her or that something happened," Garcia said. "[He said] that he had killed her or murdered her," Garcia said.
Following that phone call with his niece, Garcia said he went to the Tuscany Cove apartment complex near 3800 West and 3300 South around 7 p.m. Tuesday, where his nephew and Andreason had been living. When no one answered the door, he said he got a sick feeling and called police.
"We went to the management and obtained a key to enter the apartment," said Capt. Tom McLachlan of the West Valley City Police Department. "After entry we located her and knew we had a crime scene on our hands, so we withdrew from the apartment."
Police wouldn't say how or where Andreason died in the apartment, but they did say she suffered blunt force trauma to her body. They also said based on the earlier phone call Valdez made to his sister, they knew they wanted to talk to Valdez.
"We were able to track down Mr. Valdez last night, interview him this morning and book him into jail for homicide," McLachlan said.
It turns out Valdez has a lengthy criminal history, including jail time for drugs and weapons violations.
This also isn't the first time Valdez has attacked someone. His uncle said he served five years in prison for aggravated assault involving his ex-girlfriend.
"It was in an apartment complex like this, and [he] drug her outside and beat her," Garcia said. "I don't know how bad, but he went to prison and did the full five years."
Garcia said he knew his nephew could be violent, but he didn't think he was capable of murder. He said he was hoping something else had happened and that's why his nephew took off.
"He was in fear they were going to blame him no matter what because he's a convicted felon, his face is fully tattooed," Garcia said. "I want to believe with all my heart that he was really fearful that he would be blamed no matter what."
He said his thoughts now go out to the victim's family.
"My prayers are with him, with her and her family, and my sister and niece," he said. "It's just unfortunate when something like this happens."
Garcia said his nephew and the victim have known each other for about 20 years. He said this was the second time they had been living together.
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Story compiled with contributions from Randall Jeppesen, Shara Park and Alex Cabrero.
