A 21-year-old man was discovered dead in rural Utah several days after he went missing. Authorities have charged two juveniles with his kidnapping and murder.
The victim looked to have suffered a gunshot wound.
The Taylorsville Police Department said that the body has been identified as Alexia “Alex” Franco. He was found in a desert location about fifty miles away from the spot where he was last seen getting into a Jeep on Sunday afternoon.
Neither of the juveniles charged with Franco’s murder have had their identities announced by Taylorsville police. The department listed the ages of the arrested as 15 and 17. According to reports, the youths were taken into custody after being charged with several counts of felony homicide and sent to the Salt Lake Valley Detention Center.
One day before their apprehension, Franco was discovered lifeless in a remote and arid section of Lehi, a little town close to Provo, by police investigators. Since Franco had not been seen since the weekend, police were looking into the possibility of his kidnapping and tracking down the white Jeep Liberty from the year 2000 that would lead them to the perpetrators.
After changing their inquiry from a probable kidnapping to a homicide following the finding of Franco’s death, police said they were able to locate the Jeep with the assistance of the public. The vehicle was found in Salt Lake County.
Franco’s fiancée, Alyssa Henry, told reporters that “friends of friends” had allegedly picked him up on Sunday afternoon with the intention of taking the pair to a park. As authorities sought information from the community on the whereabouts of a white 2000s Jeep Liberty spotted outside Henry’s Taylorsville residence, surveillance footage of the vehicle went viral.
On Sunday, as Franco got in the Jeep, Henry informed authorities and KUTV news that she thought she heard a gunshot coming from inside the vehicle. After that, the car sped off.
Her quick thinking aided in the authority’s ability to find the victim.
Henry told reporters that the sound of what seemed like a gunshot and the Jeep’s quick getaway made her quite worried. She began following Franco’s mobile phone as soon as the vehicle drove away.