Man charged with murder admits to shooting a woman in a Salt Lake City motel room

A man has been charged with fatally shooting a 25-year-old woman in a Salt Lake City motel, a crime for which police still haven’t released a motive.

Joshua Valasi Saunders, 37, admitted to killing Mechelle Lindberg after police arrested him the morning of the shooting, according to arrest documents.

On Monday, he was charged in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony; obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a second-degree felony.

Lindberg, of Pleasant Grove, died in the Gateway Inn, a motel at 819 West North Temple, the morning of Nov. 28. According to her husband, Cameron Lindberg, she had been battling drug addiction and living on the streets for the previous three months.

After identifying the victim, police searched for the people who had been in the motel room with her. Two of them were cleared of suspicion. The third, Saunders, was arrested the morning of the homicide, for violating parole.

Saunders is being held on $1 million cash-only bail.

According to court documents, an anonymous tipster called Salt Lake City police at 8:41 a.m. and told officers that “something was happening” in a second-floor room of the Gateway Inn.

In the motel room, police found Lindberg’s body. She had died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to court documents. Officers also found an identification card for Javier Rodriguez Pena, who had rented the room.

The motel’s surveillance recordings show a male — later identified as Saunders — entering the room at 6:33 a.m., charging documents state. Lindberg is shown entering the room 22 minutes later.

At 7:18 a.m., footage shows Saunders and Pena leaving the room, and they “appear to be visibly shaken,” charges state. Pena goes back into the room a minute later, and after another minute, he and a woman leave the room again, according to court documents.

Surveillance footage taken from a TRAX platform by the motel shows Saunders join Pena and Hansen at 7:21 a.m., charges state. The three start to cross the street toward the platform, then Pena and Hansen turn quickly and walk in the opposite direction. Saunders continues across the street and discards a black bundle into a garbage can. The handle of a handgun is visible sticking out of Saunder’s waistband, according to charging documents.

An hour later, according to charges citing the footage, Saunders returns, places a bag in the motel dumpster, gets into a cab and leaves.

Adult Probation and Parole agents identified one of the men in the motel surveillance footage as Saunders, whom police found near the motel and arrested at 9:10 a.m., according to arrest documents.

Saunders admitted to shooting “a female” while sitting in Pena’s motel room, and to throwing the handgun into a garbage can at the motel, charges state.

Pena and the woman admitted to being in the room when the shooting happened, charges state. They told police they heard a “loud boom,” then saw Lindberg fall to the floor. Pena told police he made Saunders leave.

Pena told police that when he and the woman went outside, Saunders attempted to follow them, but they broke away. Police have not detailed the relationships between those involved.

Saunders was on probation at the time of the shooting, having been convicted in a felony forgery case in October 2016.