This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
West Valley City police are asking for the public's help finding a homicide suspect after the body of a missing West Valley City woman turned up near a freeway in Colorado.
On Sunday afternoon, a Colorado Department of Transportation worker found a woman's body along Interstate 70 in Summit County, Colorado, according to a West Valley City police news release. The county is west of Denver.
Investigators confirmed the body was Maria Maricela Astorga-Chavez, 32, who has been missing from West Valley City since Aug. 6.
Police are investigating her death as a homicide, although autopsy and toxicology results are still pending and "will likely take weeks," according to the release.
Astorga-Chavez's behavior leading up to her disappearance "was out of character," police said at the time when she went missing.
On Aug. 6, Astorga-Chavez's family saw her leave with a man known as Javier Huerta in a white Ford Expedition, the release adds. Police consider him a suspect.
"Investigators have located a crime scene in West Valley City where it is believed Astorga-Chavez died," the release reads. "Investigators have also located the white Ford Expedition known to be driven by Javier Huerta at a separate site."
Police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku declined to say where the suspected crime scene was, except that police discovered it after the transportation worker found Astorga-Chavez's body.
Police are asking for the public's help in finding Huerta. Anyone with information about the crime or his whereabouts is asked to call them at 801-840-4000.
The news release describes Huerta, no age available, as about 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds, and adds that he is known to go by "Jorge Martinez" and other aliases.
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