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A September missing person case has transformed into a Salt Lake City homicide investigation, in which five people have been arrested.
As of Thursday, three of the five arrestees had been charged with kidnapping 38-year-old Jason Nakonechni on Sept. 4.
Nakonechni was lured to a motel in Salt Lake County, where he was beaten, taken to a West Valley City home, beaten again and robbed, and then taken to a location in Tooele County, where he was killed, according to court and jail booking documents.
A body believed to be that of Nakonechni was located in Tooele County on Monday night with the help of the suspects, said Salt Lake City police Detective Richard Chipping. He said the body was turned over to the state Medical Examiner's Office, where the deceased's identity was confirmed Wednesday afternoon.
Chipping said Nakonechni ran afoul of the suspects over "some sort of drug debt."
Charged in 3rd District Court with one count of first-degree felony aggravated kidnapping are Marilee JoAnn Borden, 43, Corey Lee Petersen, 53, and Michael Shaine Snyder, 40.
Allison Wells, 37, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated murder. Rodney Maxwell, 35, was arrested Thursday by officers from the Garden City Police Department at a hotel in Garden City, Idaho. Salt Lake City police will work with the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office to extradite Maxwell to Utah, according to a police news release.
Nakonechni was reported missing by his mother Sept. 18. She had last seen him Sept. 2, and his car was found abandoned and on fire in Salt Lake City on Sept. 5, charges state.
Detectives reviewed Nakonechni's social media sites and found he had made plans to meet Borden at a motel Sept. 4 at about 12:40 a.m., charges state.
Police later confirmed that Borden had rented a room that night. And the motel manager told officers that they had received several complaints of a loud fight in the room. But when the manager went to the room at 1:02 a.m., it was unoccupied, charges state.
Borden later told police that she met Nakonechni at the motel and took him to a room where several other people were waiting, unbeknown to Nakonechni, according to charges.
Booking documents indicate that Wells helped Borden lure Nakonechni to the motel room, where Wells' boyfriend and another man were "lying in wait."
As they entered, Snyder and two others attacked Nakonechni, who was "violently beaten, resulting in blood loss and the loss of several teeth," charges state.
Borden said the attackers then indicated they were taking Nakonechni to Petersen's home in West Valley City to "get it straightened out," charges state.
Cellphone records obtained by police show that one of the people in the motel room was communicating with Petersen, using the cell tower that services the motel. A short time later, the same person was again talking to Petersen, this time utilizing the cell tower that services the area near Petersen's home, charges state.
At the West Valley City residence, Nakonechni was further assaulted and robbed of his money, car and dog, according to booking documents.
A witness who was staying at Petersen's home later told police that Sept. 5, he saw Nakonechni, who had obvious injuries, sitting in a chair in the kitchen, charges state.
The witness said that in the past, Petersen had claimed that Nakonechni owed him money, charges state.
Another witness staying at Petersen's home later told police that the injured man told Petersen that "he didn't steal anything," charges state. Petersen told the injured man to shut up, charges state.
During another review of Nakonechni's social media sites, police located messages between him and Petersen. Messages from May 2016 detail a dispute between the two in which Petersen accused Nakonechni of owing him money, charges state.
Jail booking documents state that "after an extended confrontation [at the West Valley City home] the victim was taken to a remote location and killed by Wells' boyfriend."
Chipping said Wednesday he did not know which of the three males allegedly involved in kidnapping Nakonechni was Wells' boyfriend.