SALT LAKE CITY — A man arrested for the death of his co-worker at a Salt Lake City storage facility is accused of beating the man to death and leaving his body in a back office of the warehouse.
FOX 13 News previously reported the arrest of 41-year-old Nathan David Evans, who was taken into custody shortly after the body was found. Murder and abuse of desecration of a human body charges were formally filed against Evans by the Salt Lake County District Attorney.
The man who died was later identified as 65-year-old David Hinkebein and newly filed court documents reveal details about what led up to the arrest of Evans.
Police were called to "A Place for Your Stuff," a temporary storage facility for those experiencing homelessness, on January 3.
A witness told officials they had not seen Hinkebein at work and questioned Evans where their co-worker was after seeing bloody handprints on the wall and carpet in a back office of the storage facility on January 1, documents state.
Evans told the other coworker Hinkebein "was fine," and was not questioned further as he "did not want to talk and seemed defensive about it," documents report.
The next day, the co-worker went back to work, saw the blood was still not cleaned up and once again questioned Evans where Hinkebein was. According to court documents, "He's done," was the response Evans gave the concerned co-worker, who took the statement as meaning Hinkebein was dead.
Police responded to the area and found the body of Hinkebein, as well as a hammer covered in blood and a black garbage bag filled with bloody clothes, arresting documents state.
The Utah State Medical Examiner's Office found at least 15 sharp/blunt force injuries to Hinkebein's head consistent with a hammer and three sharp force injuries to the neck and throat. It was determined that Hinkebein's death was caused by blunt force injuries to the head, documents report.
During the investigation, police spoke to a driver who picked up Evans right before the alleged homicide, in which he heard Evans say, "he was going down to a warehouse and was going to...kill a guy down there by bashing his head in," documents state.
While a motive has yet to be determined, documents state the driver heard Evans say he was going to kill someone because "the guy messed with his stuff and the male did not like the way he was being treated," documents report.
After being arrested, Evans confirmed he worked with Hinkebein and had not seen him since December 29. He also denied going into the back office and denied talking to the concerned coworker about Hinkebein's welfare, documents state.
Evans is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail with no bail.
