Investigators say text messages and camera footage show a plan that began in Midvale and ended on a rural Summit County road.

PARK CITY, Utah — A Midvale woman and her boyfriend have been charged with murder after authorities said her husband was drugged, beaten and left beside a rural road in Summit County in late March.

Reina Chavez Sandobal, 41, and Francisco Santos Morales, 31, face first-degree murder charges in the death of 46-year-old Manuel Juan Sanchez, whose body was found March 26 near Browns Canyon. The case moved from a body-dumping investigation to a murder prosecution after detectives reviewed messages, security footage, location records and items recovered from Sandobal’s apartment. Both defendants also face charges tied to obstruction of justice, desecration of a body and domestic violence in the presence of children.

Deputies were called shortly after 2 p.m. March 26 to High View Road near Browns Canyon Road after a report of human remains covered in blood. The area sits east of Park City, where open roads and ranchland lead toward smaller Summit County communities. Investigators said the body had been dragged after being removed from a vehicle. A preliminary autopsy later found Sanchez died from blunt force trauma to the skull and brain. Summit County investigators said they quickly identified him, then traced the case back to the apartment he shared with Sandobal in Midvale. Sheriff’s spokesperson Skyler Talbot said the evidence first showed where Sanchez was left, but the larger question became who delivered the fatal blow. “We’ve got the girlfriend saying the boyfriend was responsible for the homicide,” Talbot said, “and on the inverse, we have the boyfriend saying the girlfriend was responsible.”

The charging documents describe a chain of messages that began on March 25, hours before Sanchez’s body appeared on the road. Investigators said Sandobal visited a web page for Tylenol PM Extra Strength that morning. That evening, Santos Morales asked when she would send a taxi and whether Sanchez would drink what prosecutors say was juice mixed with crushed medication. Sandobal later wrote that Sanchez had finished the juice and was snoring. Santos Morales asked whether she knew a place in the mountains that was far away. Sandobal replied that they could search online. In another message, he asked whether she would blame him. She responded that she already felt free, according to court papers. Prosecutors say those exchanges helped show planning, not panic.

Camera footage gave detectives another timeline. A security camera at the Midvale apartment complex allegedly recorded Sandobal and Santos Morales carrying what appeared to be Sanchez’s lifeless body to a maroon Honda Civic beginning around 1:04 a.m. March 26. A second camera near Browns Canyon Road and High View Road showed a vehicle stopping for about seven minutes at 2:22 a.m., with people removing what appeared to be a body. The car was later stopped near Kimball Junction for a minor traffic violation shortly before 3 a.m., according to investigators. A license plate reader then recorded the Honda near Sandobal’s apartment around 4 a.m. By the afternoon, deputies had reached the scene where Sanchez was found, beginning a homicide inquiry that stretched across Salt Lake, Davis and Summit counties.

Investigators said the apartment search produced some of the most direct physical evidence in the case. Sandobal allegedly told deputies where to find a hammer and a blood-soaked blanket. Detectives recovered a hammer from a laundry basket and a blanket from a closet. Sandobal told investigators the blood on the blanket belonged to Sanchez, according to charging documents. Santos Morales allegedly admitted he cleaned a blood-stained hammer in the bathtub and helped hide the body, though he denied striking Sanchez. Sandobal allegedly said Santos Morales came to the apartment and hit Sanchez while Sanchez was asleep. Later, she told detectives that she and Santos Morales had planned to kill Sanchez for about a week. Court records say three of Sandobal’s children were in the home, leading to three domestic violence in the presence of a child charges.

The case also includes a call to Sanchez’s relatives in North Carolina. Authorities said Sandobal contacted the family on April 1 and told them Sanchez was fine and that they should not worry about him. Detectives had already notified the relatives that Sanchez was dead. When family members told Sandobal they knew, she allegedly hung up. That same day, deputies arrested Sandobal at the Midvale apartment. At first, she was booked on suspicion of abuse or desecration of a dead human body and obstruction of justice. The sheriff’s office then asked the public for help finding Santos Morales, calling him dangerous and saying he might be traveling in the maroon 2009 Honda Civic tied to the case. Deputies and assisting agencies arrested him April 3 at his Layton home.

The filings mark a sharp shift from the first public reports, when neither defendant had been charged in Sanchez’s death. Summit County prosecutors filed the murder counts April 9 in 3rd District Court. Both defendants are being held without bail at the Summit County Jail. Prosecutors argued they posed a flight risk because of the severity of the charges and their immigration status. The court case now turns on whether prosecutors can prove the alleged plan, the alleged drugging and the fatal beating beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense positions were not fully laid out in the early filings, but the statements described by investigators show each defendant trying to place the killing on the other while acknowledging some role in moving Sanchez’s body.

The rural road where Sanchez was found remains central to the timeline. Browns Canyon Road branches from state Route 248, and High View Road runs through a quieter stretch of eastern Summit County. Investigators said the location was not random, citing messages about finding a mountain area and camera footage showing a brief stop before the body was left behind. The scene offered clues but also limits. The public filings do not say who first saw the body, whether any neighbors heard or saw the car that morning, or whether detectives have recovered more digital evidence from phones or searches. Officials have also not said whether prosecutors will pursue additional enhancements beyond the counts already filed.

Sandobal and Santos Morales are presumed innocent unless convicted. Their next steps will include court appearances, evidence review and decisions on pleas or preliminary hearings. As of April 29, both remained accused in a case that prosecutors say began with messages about medication and a remote place in the mountains, and ended with Sanchez dead on a Summit County road.

Author note: Last updated April 29, 2026.