ST. GEORGE — The body of a Colorado woman was located in Millard County Wednesday after a man admitted to police that he had killed her and left her remains in Utah.
Edgar Macias-Moreno, 24, of Hotchkiss, Colorado, turned himself into the Delta County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado.
Police say Moreno told deputies he had killed Madelaine Loh, 27, also of Hotchkiss, and left her body in Utah, according to a statement released Thursday by the Delta County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado.
Deputies and detectives from the Millard County Sheriff’s Office, along with crime scene technicians with Utah County, responded to the area and located the body, Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee told St. George News Friday.
Colorado authorities were then notified.
Loh was reported missing by her parents June 24 and told Colorado authorities that their daughter had not been seen or heard from since she left work June 19.
According to the deputies’ report, the parents said that their daughter’s employer thought Loh and Moreno may have gone camping together after leaving her work, prompting a search of all campgrounds in the area.
Moreno walked into the Delta County Sheriff’s Office at 5:30 a.m. on June 27 and turned himself in, according to the statement. After he confessed, police in Colorado contacted the Millard County Sheriff’s Office in Fillmore.
Utah authorities were provided with Loh’s description and the approximate location of her body. At 1 p.m. the same day, the Millard County Sheriff’s Office called to notify investigators in Colorado that deputies had found the body and secured the scene.
Investigators with the Delta County Sheriff’s Office and the Colorado Bureau of Investigations arrived in Utah later that night to assist in the crime scene investigation, McKay said.
Delta County is more than 380 miles east of Millard County.
“The suspect has no connection with Utah, none whatsoever,” McKay said.
Moreno was charged with first degree murder and remains in custody at the Delta County Jail.
The investigation is ongoing, and police have not yet determined the motive behind the murder, McKay said. No further information is being released at this time.
This report is based on statements from police or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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