2 accused of killing man, tossing his body onto Utah highway

WEST JORDAN, Utah — Two people have been arrested in connection with the death of a man whose body was found on the Bangerter Highway in Utah.

The men were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail under the names Mario Alberto Carreto-Morales, 24, and Raul Jaimes Cortez, 30, on Tuesday, each for investigation of criminal homicide by assault, obstruction of justice and two counts of aggravated robbery. Police, however, believe these names are aliases and were still working Wednesday to figure out their real identities.

About 2:40 a.m. on Feb. 26, West Jordan police were called to a report of a man lying on the Bangerter Highway near 8000 South.

“Police and fire personnel arrived on scene and found the victim face down and covered in blood on the side of the road. The victim was found to be deceased with multiple stab wounds,” according to a police booking affidavit.

Investigators determined that Cesar Adan Martinez, 37, who recently moved to West Valley City, had likely been thrown from a moving vehicle.

Police began looking for Martinez’s 2008 Dodge Dakota after discovering his body. The vehicle was found in Salt Lake City and Martinez’s cellphone was later found in East Canyon, the affidavit states.

“A large amount of blood was found on the interior and exterior of the vehicle when it was recovered,” according to the affidavit.

Detectives were also able to locate one of Martinez’s friends who talked to him on the phone on the night of Feb. 25. The friend told police that Martinez said he was at an apartment in West Valley City and that he might need a ride because he had been drinking, the affidavit states. The friend could hear other people speaking Spanish loudly in the background and Martinez said he would call the friend back.

At 1:51 a.m. the next morning — about 50 minutes before his body was discovered — Martinez called the friend back and stated he was somewhere in West Valley City and on his way to a relative’s house.

“The friend then heard the victim say, ‘Watch out’ in Spanish. The victim told the friend, ‘Hold on,’ and hung up the phone. The friend attempted contact with the victim at a later time and never heard from him again,” the affidavit states.

According to police, at some point during the night at the apartment, Carreto-Morales and Cortez, who were also at the West Valley apartment, came up with a plan to rob Martinez. The men ended up driving Martinez, who sat in the front passenger seat of his truck. They allegedly told Martinez they would drive him home. They first stopped at an apartment belonging to one of the suspects before continuing on. At some point during the ride, the men got into an argument and Martinez was stabbed three times, the affidavit states.

Martinez then opened the passenger door and was pushed out of the truck by one of the suspects, the arrest report states. West Jordan police officer Sam Winkler said detectives can only speculate whether Martinez opened the car door in an attempt to escape the assault.

He said the three men were previously acquainted with each other, which makes the killing all the more senseless.

“Any death is senseless, especially when it’s an acquaintance of yours. Whether you’re friends with them or not, you literally just spent time together at a party with friends acquainted with each other, you’re standing next to a living, breathing person, and you come up with this idea, ‘Hey, I’m going to take advantage of this person,’ which is wrong in the first place. But then, going to the next level where you’re taking out a knife and stabbing this person multiple times, pushing them out of the vehicle to die and dying on the side of the road is a step above that. That’s just cruel, for the victim and the victim’s family. It’s completely senseless,” Winkler said.

Carreto-Morales and Cortez are also suspects in a recent aggravated robbery investigation in Park City, according to Winkler, which is why they were booked for investigation of those charges. Details of those robberies were not immediately available.

Both Carreto-Morales and Cortez have “multiple different names,” according to police who referred to them as John Does until agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could help them positively identify the men. Both men also “have stated they are illegal immigrants and have no full-time job in the United States” and are likely to flee if released from custody, according to the affidavit.

Winkler said the arrests were the result of a team effort by local and federal law enforcers, as well as the media which got the story out to the public and that prompted “a lot” of tips to police about who may have killed Martinez.

“It really was a great partnership with the media and our law enforcement partners and the community as a whole that gave us the information that was able to give Mr. Martinez’s family the closure they needed,” Winkler said.