Sandy records 5th homicide: a record high

When Sandy investigators unearthed the dead body of Tibor Brown from his own back yard Sunday, it opened the city's fifth homicide case this year.

That is the most Sandy police spokesman Kevin Thacker can recall in the 17 years he's been with the Sandy Police Department.

"I don't know if you can attribute it to anything — other than it's just a bad year," Thacker said. "If you look at what we've had, there's only one (incident) that's been random. The others are all family members or acquaintances, which is fairly common in homicides throughout the nation."

The one random act happened April 27 when a gunman went on a shooting rampage that left two people dead at Chevys Restaurant, 7475 S. Union Park Drive.

The victims in the other three homicides have all known their alleged attackers, Thacker said.

Police believe Brown, who had been missing since Wednesday, was killed by someone he knew. An informant led them to Brown's back yard, 2083 Newcastle Drive, Sunday night. An autopsy Monday positively identified the body as Brown's, but authorities are not releasing the cause of death yet, Thacker said.

David W. Stoedter, 35, was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Monday for investigation of homicide. He remained in the county Jail Tuesday morning.

Sandy's remaining two homicides are believed to be domestic-related, Thacker said. Edith Baruque was found strangled in her home, 8250 S. Gerona Circle, June 28. Baruque's son, 26-year-old Farid Baruque, was charged Friday with murder, a first-degree felony, for his mother's death.

A murder-suicide March 22 at 9942 S. Tameron Drive left a husband and wife dead.

"Domestic situations are no respecter of money or race or anything else," Thacker said. "People have stress in their lives, and unfortunately that stress is often taken out in the homes."

But even after Sunday's odd slaying, Sandy police insist their city is still a safe place to live. Besides the murder-suicide, police arrested suspects within 24 hours of each slaying, Thacker said.

"Sandy is a very safe place," Thacker said. "Again, it comes back to who's committing these murders. These aren't gang-related homicides out on the street."

A woman who lives across the street from Brown with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren says she hasn't worried about what's happened over the past few days. The hardest part, she says, is helping her 9-year-old granddaughter cope.