TOOELE COUNTY, Utah — A man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder for the death of a man whose body was found on the side of Interstate 80 earlier this month.
On Feb. 15, a man was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds on the side of westbound I-80 near milepost 93 (between the main exits for Grantsville and Tooele).
The Tooele County Sheriff's Office identified the victim as Anthony Bracamonte, and an investigation was initiated by the Utah State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).
According to court documents, Bracamonte was found dead alongside 12 spent 9mm shell casings and two newly-purchased t-shirts — which proved helpful in identifying the suspect and learning what apparently led up to the fatal shooting.
Investigators went to Bracamonte's residence in Ogden, where a woman who he lived with said she hadn't seen him since Feb. 11.
The woman told police that she and Bracamonte got into an argument that day, and he left with his friend "Alex," who investigators later determined was 30-year-old Alejandro Manuel Moore of West Jordan.
The woman said Bracamonte and Moore later returned to the Ogden residence later that night with another man whom she did not know. She said Bracamonte was heavily intoxicated and "tore up their home," the police report states. A neighbor called in a domestic disturbance report, but the three men reportedly left the area together in a car right as Ogden Police arrived.
The woman who lived with Bracamonte said she believed the men were planning to go to Wendover, and she didn't see him since the night of the 11th.
She said the next day, Feb. 12, Moore came to her home without Bracamonte, which she said was unusual. She said Moore told her that Bracamonte had been "acting crazy." Part of his account included saying Bracamonte had touched Moore's mother inappropriately. Moore, who was driving, then claimed Bracamonte was trying to get out of the car, so he told him to get out and left him on the side of the freeway.
Police said the shirts that were found near Bracamonte's body had "GEN-X" tags on them, so SBI agents went to the GEN-X store in West Valley City. Using the tags and surveillance footage from the 11th, they confirmed that Moore and an unknown male bought some clothes. Police said there was someone in the front seat of Moore's car who didn't go into the store, but they could not tell who it was from the footage.
Police obtained a search warrant for Moore's cell phone data, which confirmed that he was at the GEN-X store and Bracamonte's Ogden apartment on Feb. 11. In the early morning of Feb. 12, the location data also showed Moore's phone in the area where Bracamonte's body was found three days later.
On Saturday, Utah Highway Patrol troopers located Moore's car heading south on I-15 near St. George. Officers encountered him at a service station and told him that some detectives wanted to speak with him, and he went with them.
Moore told investigators a similar account to what they previously heard from interviewees connected to the case. He added that his mother joined them to go to Wendover, but at one point, Bracamonte pulled her toward him "to kiss her." Moore said he then told Bracamonte to get out of the car and left him on the side of I-80. He claimed he went home, then returned around 6 a.m. on Feb. 12 to look for him.
The agents interviewing Moore informed him that Bracamonte was dead, to which they said he "did not seem surprised." He did not confess to shooting Bracamonte, but according to police, he said "it was my gun that killed him." He did not answer any further questions but "stated that it was crazy," according to the arrest report. He then reportedly added: "Don't trust anyone."
Agents then tracked down another witness who said he was in Moore's car on the way to Wendover on Feb. 11. He said Bracamonte inappropriately touched Moore's mother, and then he saw the two men get out of the car and fight on the side of I-80. He said Moore shot Bracamonte about five times, then another five times after Bracamonte fell to the ground.
Moore was booked into the Washington County Jail, and as of Saturday night was expected to be transported to Tooele County. He was ordered to be held without bail, facing a single first-degree felony murder charge.
On Tuesday, Moore's mother, Johnnie Marie Estrada, 51, of Midvale, was also charged with four counts of obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, after turning herself in to police.
In an affadavit, Estrada claimed that Bracamonte tried to kiss her in the car, leading Moore to stop the car and tell Bracamonte to get out; she says she then heard gunshots.
Estrada also admitted in her statement that she told the men in the car not to contact the police, to make sure everyone in the car had the same story, and that she and the other men worked together to destroy possible evidence.
