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NORTH SALT LAKE — Police say the discovery of a man's body inside his home earlier this month has turned into a homicide investigation.
On July 5, the body of Reed Christensen, 67, was found inside his North Salt Lake home, 215 E. Vista Way, "lying on the floor in a pool of blood," according to a pair of search warrant affidavits filed in 2nd District Court.
Christensen had a gunshot wound to his head, said North Salt Lake Police Chief Craig Black. Based on the evidence that has been collected, investigators believe Christensen was targeted by somebody and the killing was not random.
The evidence, Black said, "points to someone who knew the victim and the house and had knowledge when he would be home."
Christensen's wife told police she and her husband had gone to dinner in Murray the night before and got into an argument. After dinner, they drove on State Street toward 3300 South.
"During the drive the argument continued. Reed stopped the vehicle, and (his wife) exited the vehicle, somewhere between Macaroni Grill (near 6200 South) and 3300 South," the warrant states.
The wife told police that she did not have her cellphone and asked a stranger for a ride to her son's residence in Midvale, according to the warrant. She said she slept at her son's home that night. He was not home.
"(She) stated she asked a stranger, who is a neighbor to her son, to use their cellphone to call her husband Reed. After Reed did not answer the phone, she ordered an UBER to take her home to her residence," the affidavits state.
The wife used the neighbor's phone to order the Uber.
"When she arrived home, she entered the residence through the front door and noticed that there were several drawers to cabinets open in the kitchen area. She was calling for Reed, but received no response. She then went upstairs to check their bedroom for Reed, and found Reed's body lying on the floor in the door opening to their bedroom in a pool of blood," according to the warrants.
The wife said she then ran to a neighbor's house to call 911.
An overview of Reed's body shows a gunshot wound to his head, but there is no weapon in plain view to confirm a suicide.
–Search warrant
Detectives who searched the home did not find a weapon, Black said.
"An overview of Reed's body shows a gunshot wound to his head, but there is no weapon in plain view to confirm a suicide," the warrant states. "Once the medical examiner was able to move the body, a gun was not found under Reed's body. Officers have been processing the scene and have not been able to locate the gun."
The wife also told police her car should have been in the garage. But when she didn't find it, she assumed it had been stolen, the chief said. The car was found a couple of days later, abandoned and ransacked near 1500 South and West Temple, he said.
In addition, police say two cellphones were found in a toilet in the house.
Black noted that the initial statement given by the wife to police "has substantial discrepancies” with some of the evidence collected. Investigators were "working through" those discrepancies in an attempt "to reconcile her story with what the evidence shows," the chief said.
As of Monday, no arrests have been made nor official suspects named.
