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- A man who died in Utah Tuesday during a high speed chase is now linked to a Las Vegas homicide.
- Joseph Del Rivo fled from troopers at 140 mph, according to the UHP.
- Rivo's vehicle crashed after tire spikes were deployed; he died at the scene.
ELSINORE, Sevier County — A man who crashed and died while trying to avoid Utah Highway Patrol troopers during a high speed chase on Tuesday has now been linked to a homicide investigation in Las Vegas.
About 10:20 a.m. Tuesday, Las Vegas police officers were called to investigate a report of a "foul-smelling odor coming from a large container which was being stored at a business located in the 100 block of North 3rd Street. When officers arrived, they opened the container and located the body of a deceased individual," according to a statement released Friday by the department.
The Las Vegas Metro homicide squad was called and "through the course of the investigation, detectives identified 63-year-old Joseph Del Rivo as the suspect in this case," the department said.
About 5:45 p.m. that same day, a UHP trooper on I-70 in Sevier County noticed a vehicle coming up from behind him going over 90 mph.
"He activated his emergency lights and the suspect vehicle fled, increasing its speeds to (over) 140 mph," UHP said.
Additional troopers set up tire spikes near the Richfield exit.
"The vehicle was successfully spiked on the driver's side tires. The suspect vehicle continued east at a high rate of speed. After continuing for three miles, the left front tire began to come apart as it was flat," according to the UHP.
The driver continued to flee, however, and troopers prepared to deploy another set of tire spikes. But the driver "took evasive action" and swerved to try and avoid the spikes, troopers said. The vehicle went off the road and rolled several times and the driver was ejected. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives now say Rivo was the driver killed in the Utah crash.
It was not immediately known whether anything of evidentiary value connected to the Las Vegas case was recovered in the Utah crash.
Anyone with information about the Vegas killing is asked to call police at 702-828-3521.
