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MONA, Juab County — Two men from South Dakota allegedly fleeing that state to avoid facing criminal charges were arrested in Utah over the weekend after police say one of the men shot and killed one of his passengers.
David Manuel Mestas, 26, was booked into the Juab County Jail for investigation of murder and abuse or desecration of a dead body. Richard Anthony Sanchez, 26, was arrested for investigation of obstruction of justice and abuse or desecration of a dead body.
On Sunday, Juab County sheriff's deputies responded to the Park N Pump gas station in Mona just before 1 p.m. on a report of people fighting in the parking lot. At some point during the fight, a witness was told there was a body in the vehicle that belonged to the two men who were fighting, according to a police booking affidavit.
When deputies searched the car, they found the body of a woman "concealed and partially in the trunk with several bags and articles of clothing covering it," the affidavit states.
The woman appeared to be have been shot once in the head, according to deputies.
Mestas, Sanchez and a woman were taken to the Juab County Sheriff's Office for questioning. All three may be related, according to the affidavit. Investigators learned that the three were traveling with the deceased woman to Las Vegas.
The two men may have been involved in a shooting in South Dakota, investigators wrote in the affidavit, adding that the two purchased guns after the incident in South Dakota and took off for Las Vegas.
"Both suspects ... reside in another state and were currently on the run and fleeing to Las Vegas to avoid being arrested for another felony level offense they committed," the arrest report states.
Mestas told police he was "using methamphetamine heavily" during the trip and that he "kept hearing the others talk about him and making comments toward him. The male believed the female victim in particular was calling him a snitch," according to the affidavit.
Mestas allegedly pointed a gun at the woman multiple times during the car ride. He later told investigators "he did not know why he did this. The male suspect said he felt weird and thought it was maybe the drugs," the affidavit says.
After shooting the woman, "everything went blank," he told deputies, according to the affidavit.
At some point both Mestas and Sanchez allegedly moved the woman's body to the back of the car and tried to conceal her. When they arrived at the gas station in Mona, the two men got into a fight.
The name of the deceased woman has not yet been released.
