Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A woman wanted for questioning in connection with the killing of a Pleasant Grove woman at a Salt Lake motel has been found and arrested.
However, Salt Lake police said Friday that after interviewing Kristie Marie Hansen, 26, they do not believe she was a participant in the killing and do not anticipate that charges will be filed against her in connection with the death.
The body of Mechelle Lindberg, 25, was found about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday at the Gateway Inn, 819 W. North Temple.
The main suspect in her death, a man whose name police have not released, was arrested for investigation of an unrelated charge and was being held in the Salt Lake County Jail on a parole violation, said Salt Lake police detective Greg Wilking.
Javier Rodriguez Pena is now no longer considered a person of interest in the #Homicide investigation. Police still want to talk with him and are urging him to come in.
— SLC Police Dept. (@slcpd) December 1, 2017
Investigators said they did not want to release the man's name until they had the chance to speak to Hansen and Javier Rodriguez Pena, 29. Both were believed to have been in the area of the motel at the time of Lindberg's death.
Hansen was arrested at a convenience store Thursday night near 1300 South and West Temple and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on outstanding warrants from other unrelated incidents, Wilking said. Though she did have knowledge of Lindberg's death, investigators determined she was "not actively involved," he said.
Police were still looking for Pena on Friday afternoon, even though he's no longer considered a person of interest in the case. They publicly encouraged Pena to come forward and talk to detectives.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Salt Lake police detectives at 801-799-3000.
