This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
After his 24-year-old wife was shot and killed in their Magna home, Steven Arceo called the man who police believe pulled the trigger — but Jason Alan Black denied ever being in the home, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Arceo found his wife, Natalia Casagrande, dead at their home on May 31. Their 5-year-old daughter told Arceo that "Jay Black did it," according to court documents, and reported that Black tried to smother her with a throw pillow after the shooting.
Jason Alan Black, 26, is now charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony aggravated murder, accused of shooting Casagrande and taking several pounds of marijuana, two guns and hundreds of dollars of cash. He is also charged with attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, for allegedly trying to kill the child, along with aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies, and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.
Search warrant affidavits unsealed on Wednesday reveal new details about Casagrande's death. In the court records, investigators say Arceo called Black and asked about his wife, but the defendant denied being there and hung up. Arceo kept calling, the search warrant affidavit says, but no one answered. It's unclear when this call happened.
Arceo told police that his wife was shot with his gun, but added "the shell casing didn't come from my gun." He noticed the holster to his Glock pistol in the downstairs area of the home. The husband had rushed to his home on the day of the shooting after Casagrande abruptly stopped texting him about what marijuana to give to Black, according to charging documents.
A day after the shooting, police were called to a hotel after staff reported a number of items left behind in a room, including a Glock .22-caliber pistol with blood on it, a bloody knife, money, marijuana, receipts, and bloody clothes. Black's driver's license was also left behind, according to the search warrant affidavit.
The room had been rented under Estephania Sanchez-Mendoza's name, according to the affidavit. The 24-year-old woman is accused of driving Black to the Magna home on the day of the homicide and she is charged with second-degree felony obstruction of justice. She is due in court on July 1 for a scheduling conference.
Officers eventually tracked Black to a West Jordan home, where Black allegedly brandished a gun and was shot and wounded by police. He was arrested and is being held at the Salt Lake County jail without bail. A scheduling conference for Black is set for July 11.