Two Men Arrested After Woman's Body Found in Trunk of Car

Two men have been arrested in Utah after a woman was found dead in the trunk of a car parked at a gas station with a gunshot wound to the head.

David Manuel Mestas and Richard Anthony Sanchez, who are both 26 years old from South Dakota, were arrested on Sunday at the Park and Pump gas station in Mona, Utah, at around 1:00 p.m. local time, according to Fox 13 in Salt Lake City.

The pair were arrested shortly after officers from the Juab County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene following reports of a "disturbance," finding an unnamed female victim deceased in the back of the vehicle having been shot in the head.

A female suspect, who is the sister of Mestas and Sanchez, was also detained and interviewed by the authorities, but was released later in the day without charge, according to court documents obtained by Fox 13.

The reports claimed that Mestas and Sanchez were driving to Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday from South Dakota, after allegedly being involved in a previous shooting in their home state.

The men were accompanied by two women, who are also believed by the police to have been involved in the South Dakota shooting, with one of the companions later found dead in the back of the vehicle.

In the arrest reports, officers from the sheriff's department said that Mestas admitted to them that he was on methamphetamine during the trip and felt weird when he heard the other passengers talking about him.

Mestas allegedly claimed that the victim called him a "snitch," and reacted by pointing a gun at her multiple times before fatally shooting the unnamed woman in the head.

He then told the authorities that alongside Sanchez, he put the deceased woman's body in the trunk of the car and covered it with bags and clothing.

Officers said that after the vehicle stopped at the gas station in Mona, the group started fighting, which prompted the authorities to be called to the scene at around 1:00 p.m.

An unspecified member of the group then reportedly told the police that the body of the woman was in the trunk of the car and that a gun had been hidden underneath the driver's seat in the vehicle. After the car was searched, Mestas and Sanchez were arrested by the responding officers.

Sanchez has so far declined to speak to the police, while he and Mestas are currently being held in custody without bail following their arrests.

It is not unusual for the authorities to discover dead bodies in the back of vehicles, and in January a 28-year-old man was taken into custody by Washington police after officers discovered a car containing the remains of multiple bodies.

In July, a Maryland woman was charged with child abuse that resulted in the death of two children after their bodies were stuffed in the trunk of her car, with one apparently kept there for several months.

Newsweek has contacted the Juab County Sheriff's Office for comment.