This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A witness and DNA evidence have led to charges in the July murder of a woman in an unused Salt Lake City hotel room.
Jeffrey Allen Skog, 35, was charged Friday in 3rd District Court with murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery. All are first-degree felonies that carry a potential life sentence. Court documents describe Skog, also known as "Tripp," as a transient.
A warrant was issued for his arrest, with a cash-only bail set at a little more than $1 million. Police found him not long after 2 p.m. near 250 W. 500 South and took him to the Salt Lake County Jail.
On July 17, Salt Lake City police officers found the body of Holly Nicole Carges in Room 143 of the Royal Garden Inn, at 154 W. 600 South, after the hotel management had called the police.
The 34-year-old woman's hands were bound behind her back with her belt, her pants were slightly down and her zipper was broken, according to the charges.
The room reportedly was in a section of the hotel not currently in use by registered guests.
An autopsy showed that Carges had been strangled to death. The medical examiner also noted blunt force injuries to her head and restraint marks on her ankles.
Police spoke with her boyfriend, who said that when he saw her the day before she died, she was wearing three gold rings and had a black purse with red handles, a red wallet and a white cell phone with a cracked screen. Police found the purse in the hotel room with her body, but it was empty, and she wasn't wearing any gold rings, the charges add.
A witness saw Skog at the Royal Garden Inn on July 15 or July 16, and saw him enter Room 143 through a broken window, according to the charges. The next day, the same witness met Skog, who wanted to pawn three gold rings; he also had a red wallet and a white phone with a cracked screen, the charges add.
Police tested the DNA on Carges' belt, pants zipper and under her fingernails — and it matched Skog's, according to charges.
Carges' father, Thomas Monk of West Valley City, said shortly after his daughter's death that he did not know why someone would have wanted to harm her.
Skog had said that he wanted to leave the state two months ago, according to court records in an unrelated criminal case.
In August, two detectives — including one of the same detectives who worked Carges' murder — were investigating a stolen car report. On Aug. 13, they found it parked outside the Royal Garden Inn, with Skog in the driver's seat and a woman sitting next to him, according to court documents.
Skog told police that he intended to leave the state; another woman confirmed to the detectives that he had recently told her the same thing, the court documents add.
Skog ultimately pleaded guilty to theft by receiving stolen property in relation to the stolen car case. He was scheduled to be sentenced in that case next month, and was on pretrial release in the meantime.
Skog's other criminal history in Utah is mostly limited to theft, according to a search of court records. In September 2011, he was convicted of three counts of vehicle burglary, and in June 2011, was convicted of attempted theft by receiving stolen property. Skog was also convicted in June 2010 of two counts of retaliation against a witness, victim or informant.
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