Body found in Ogden storage unit was 'partially mummified’

Police still haven’t said what happened to the 41-year-old woman whose body was found earlier this month inside an abandoned storage unit in Ogden.

The state Medical Examiner’s Office has performed an autopsy, and fingerprints revealed the woman’s identity. But police haven’t released how she died, nor whether they have any idea who killed her — if anyone.

Search warrants unsealed Wednesday shed some light on how Alice Ann Valdez’s body was found — and in what condition.

A search warrant served the day her body was found said the storage unit at Ogden’s Stock-n-Lock, at 2868 Grant Ave., had been deserted for a while. So long, in fact, that the business had put it up for auction a few times, but no one ever wanted it.

So, on Sept. 5, the property manager hired two people to clean it out. They found a partially mummified human body, wrapped in cloth, rope or twine, wire, plastic and other materials.

In the search warrant, police asked for permission to search the unit and a trailer the workers had been using to dispose of things in the unit.

The hope, according to the warrant, was to find whom the storage unit belonged to, who has been inside it, why the deceased woman was in the unit and how she got there.

Ogden police didn’t immediately return requests for comment Wednesday afternoon. They had said previously that Valdez’s death was considered “suspicious” and they were still in the preliminary stage of the investigation.