Court records describe how a witness’s decision to alert a state trooper unraveled an El Mirage homicide investigation.

EL MIRAGE, Ariz. — A man who went to a gas station intending to contact authorities instead encountered an Arizona state trooper and delivered a tip that would lead police to the concealed body of Salvador Ortiz Rivera Jr. and, investigators say, to Rivera’s son as a suspect in his death.

The encounter at a QuikTrip in Youngtown became the turning point in a case that had not yet reached police, according to court records described by Arizona’s Family and Law&Crime. Michael Rodriguez, 48, was arrested and accused of second-degree murder and abandonment or concealment of a dead body. Authorities also listed a probation violation. Police say Rivera’s body was found at his home on Luna Street in El Mirage, northwest of Phoenix, after the witness told the trooper what he had seen and what Rodriguez had allegedly asked him to do.

The witness’s account began before his conversation with the trooper. According to court records, Rodriguez had told the man that he could go to Rivera’s home and take whatever property he wanted. The man said he went to the residence but found Rivera dead and decided not to take anything. At that point, according to the account given to investigators, he knew of a death that had not yet been reported to authorities. What happened next brought him back to the home and eventually pushed him toward police.

After midnight Wednesday, the witness said, Rodriguez arrived at his home with another man. The three then traveled to Rivera’s residence. Police allege Rodriguez wanted the witness to remove Rivera’s wallet because Rodriguez believed there was $5,000 accessible through a bank card. The third man stayed in the vehicle, according to the court account. The witness said he could not bring himself to take the wallet from Rivera’s body. Instead, he told Rodriguez the wallet was no longer there. Investigators have not publicly accused the witness of taking the money or other property.

The witness later told authorities that he continued thinking about what had happened and went to the QuikTrip to call police. There, rather than making an ordinary phone report, he encountered a state trooper. He told the trooper Rivera was dead at the Luna Street property and provided information that led law enforcement to the address. That decision gave investigators a location, a possible victim and a direct account linking Rodriguez to the residence before officers had publicly identified the death as a homicide.

Later that morning, the trooper and El Mirage police went to Rivera’s home. Officers found a concrete-lined vehicle repair pit in a carport-type area of the property, according to the reports. Rivera’s body was inside the pit and concealed beneath plywood. Police said the body was decomposing. Investigators also reported finding a plastic bag over Rivera’s head and marks that they believed were consistent with strangulation. Those observations were part of the initial police account; a full public medical examiner finding establishing Rivera’s precise cause and manner of death was not included in the reports reviewed for this story.

The witness helped investigators narrow the possible time frame. He said he had last seen Rivera alive on either the preceding Saturday or Sunday. Authorities did not publicly state in the reports reviewed exactly when they believe Rivera died. That leaves a gap of several days between the witness’s last confirmed sighting of Rivera and the Wednesday discovery. The available reports also do not identify another independent witness to the confrontation that police say ultimately led to Rivera’s death.

Police then went to Rodriguez’s home, which authorities said was only a few blocks from his father’s residence. During questioning, officers said Rodriguez acknowledged a long-running conflict with Rivera. Court paperwork cited by Arizona’s Family says Rodriguez told detectives that his father had previously caused him to spend six years in prison over what Rodriguez described as not minding his business at a “compound.” The records available through news reports do not independently establish Rodriguez’s characterization of that history or explain the underlying prior case in detail.

Rodriguez also described an argument with his father before Rivera died, investigators said. According to the court account, Rodriguez complained that Rivera drank frequently and said the two “got into it.” He told detectives he lost control after his father called him crazy and claimed that he later blacked out during the fight. Police said Rodriguez reported regaining awareness and finding Rivera dead. Investigators treated Rodriguez’s statements as admissions relevant to the homicide inquiry, but the claims about his memory and the argument remain part of the accused man’s account rather than independently established findings.

As detectives continued questioning him, police say Rodriguez acknowledged striking Rivera in the head with a metal bar. Prosecutors also said he admitted getting rid of that bar and the shoes he had been wearing. The reports reviewed do not say whether officers recovered either item or whether forensic testing connected a particular object to Rivera’s injuries. Those distinctions are important because a suspect’s statement, physical evidence and a medical examiner’s conclusions can each play different roles as prosecutors decide how to prove a homicide charge.

Investigators also asked Rodriguez why he had not called police after Rivera died. According to court paperwork, he claimed that no one could handle his father and portrayed Rivera as being above the law. In a separate part of the interview, authorities said Rodriguez made a statement about Rivera’s brother, telling officers that the man was “on his radar.” Rodriguez also alleged that Rivera had tried to persuade him to kill that brother in 2021. No evidence confirming that allegation was identified in the reports reviewed, and authorities have not publicly substantiated Rodriguez’s claims about his father or uncle.

The investigation then moved from the police interview to court. Rodriguez was booked on allegations including second-degree murder and abandonment or concealment of a dead body, along with a probation violation. A judge set bond at $2 million, according to the court information cited by the local news report. The criminal charges are accusations, and the available reporting does not establish that Rodriguez has been convicted of any offense arising from Rivera’s death.

Rodriguez also spoke during his initial court appearance. Video and reporting from Arizona’s Family described him interrupting the proceeding and saying he was not a flight risk. Law&Crime reported that he made further accusations about his father and told the court that he believed Rivera was a dangerous man. At one point he said, “I had to stop him.” Authorities have not publicly verified the allegations Rodriguez made about Rivera during that appearance, and the comments do not amount to a judicial finding about what occurred before Rivera died.

The unusual path by which the case reached authorities remains one of its most consequential features. Police were not initially summoned by a neighbor reporting a disturbance or by a relative reporting Rivera missing, according to the accounts reviewed. Instead, investigators learned of the body after a man who had allegedly been invited to take property from Rivera’s home decided against doing so, returned to the property under different circumstances and eventually told a trooper what he knew. His statements supplied police with a starting point, but prosecutors would still have to establish the elements of the charges through admissible evidence in court.

Rodriguez remained in custody on the $2 million bond. The available sources did not provide a later plea, trial date, conviction or final medical examiner ruling, and Rivera’s age had not been publicly released. The precise time of death, the complete forensic findings and whether the discarded items described by Rodriguez were recovered also remained unclear in the material reviewed.

Author note: Last updated Aug. 23, 2026.