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Sam Penrod reports
A gruesome discovery in Central Utah, as two bodies are found stuffed in a car's trunk.
"They were wrapped in garbage bags," says Sevier County Sheriff Phil Barney.
Investigators from Michigan to Las Vegas are looking for answers.
The bodies were found Thursday night, during a routine traffic stop along I-70 near Richfield.
Police have a suspect in custody and are searching for answers in these mysterious murders.
Central Utah Correspondent Sam Penrod reports.
Police do not believe the murders occured here in Utah.
But a suspect is being held at the Sevier County jail, on suspicion of homicide.
And now, Utah detectives have found themselves in the middle of a cross country murder investigation.
A Highway Patrol trooper pulled over a car from Missouri, traveling a stretch of Interstate 70, near Richfield.
The driver had no registration or ID, and his behavior led to the trooper to believe something was wrong.
"These inconsistencies, along with having no i.d., contributed to his (the trooper's) feeling that he did not know who he was dealing with, and that this person was being deceptive," says Captain Keith Squires of the Utah Highway Patrol.
The officer later discovered a woman's body in the car's trunk and took the driver, 31-year-old Patrick Daniel, into custody.
When the car was throughly searched at the Sevier County Sheriff's office, detectives found a second body, that of an adult man.
Both victims were wrapped in garbage bags.
"One has been dead longer than the other-- the female has," says Sheriff Barney. "We're confident both murders occured in Michigan."
The investigation has led to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where authorities looked for clues to how the victims were killed.
A motive for the killings is still unknown.
But detectives believe the man planned to dump the bodies somewhere in Las Vegas.
"There was some information in the car, written information that leads us to believe that he was planning on disposing of the bodies in the Vegas area," according to Sheriff Barney.
And the sheriff credits the trooper with good police work, in uncovering this double murder.
"The officer did a tremendous job at the beginning. I know of many officers who would have issued a citation and that car would have been down the road. He really needs to be given a lot of credit."
Neither victim has been identified yet.
The suspect is also not giving authorites any information.
The investigation is leading authorities to say that it is likely that Patrick Daniel will be extradited to Michigan to face murder charges.
