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Background: The Summit County Justice Center in East Basin, Utah (Google Maps). Inset: Francisco Santos-Morales (Summit County Sheriff”s Office).
Just two days after Sandobal’s arrest, Santos-Morales was also apprehended. In a twist of events, the couple began to blame each other for the crime once they were in police custody. According to details from an arrest report obtained by KPCW, an NPR affiliate, the two had been romantically involved. Sandobal reportedly confided in Santos-Morales on March 25, alleging that her husband, whose name has not been released, was abusive towards her. This revelation allegedly set off a chain of events leading to the husband’s murder.
The Summit County Sheriff’s Office, through a press release, confirmed the body was “quickly identified” after its discovery, which expedited the investigation and arrests. The case has captured significant attention due to the dramatic turn of events, with the accused couple’s relationship and subsequent actions under intense scrutiny. As the legal proceedings unfold, the community awaits further details on this tragic incident.
Santos-Morales was taken into custody two days later, and police said the two soon started pointing the finger at each other.
According to an arrest report obtained by local NPR outlet KPCW, Sandobal and Santos-Morales were in a romantic relationship when she told him on March 25 that her husband, who was not named, was abusing her. Police said Sandobal told them that Santos-Morales killed her husband the next day.
However, when police spoke to Santos-Morales, he told them that it was Sandobal who allegedly “fatally struck” her husband.
Sandobal allegedly told police that she and Santos-Morales both loaded her husband’s body into a Honda Civic and dumped him on the side of the road. Police said she told them that they could find the hammer that was used to kill her husband as well as a blood-soaked blanket in her apartment.
Police said an autopsy determined the man’s cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head. The manner of death was listed as homicide.
Both Sandobal and Santos-Morales were charged with desecration of a dead body and obstruction of justice. Neither of them was charged in connection with the man’s death. Their next court dates were not publicly available.