Police are continuing their search for two persons of interest in a homicide the day after they found a woman’s body in a Salt Lake City hotel room.
Authorities identified the the victim, 25-year-old Mechelle Lindberg, on Wednesday.
Lindberg has been a resident of Pleasant Grove for the past few years, according to court records. Her husband, Cameron Lindberg, said Mechelle Lindberg had been battling drug addiction and had been living on the streets for the past three months.
On Tuesday night, police said they believe 26-year-old Kristie Marie Hansen and 29-year-old Javier Rodriquez Pena may have information about Mechelle Lindberg’s death.
The pair had been associated with Mechelle Lindberg, said Salt Lake City police Detective Greg Wilking, and was in the area about the time of the homicide.
“We need to speak with them to clear up what their involvement was,” Wilking said Tuesday night.
(Photo courtesy of the Salt Lake Police Department) Kristie Marie Hansen
(Photo courtesy of the Salt Lake Police Department) Javier Rodriquez Pena
(Photo courtesy of the Salt Lake Police Department) Surveillance footage of Kristie Marie Hansen and Javier Rodriquez Pena taken Tuesday. Police are wanting to talk to both about a homicide after a body was found at the Gateway Inn in Salt Lake City on Tuesday morning. Police declined to say where the footage was taken from.
Cameron Lindberg doesn’t know Hansen or Pena, or whether his wife was staying at the hotel where she was killed. He said he last talked to Mechelle Lindberg on Friday.
“She messaged me and said she was so sorry she chose drugs over me and her daughter and her family, and she just asked for forgiveness, and she wanted to meet up,” Cameron Lindberg said. He told his wife he forgave her and asked her to come home but never heard from her again.
The two met in 2011 and married three years ago. They have a 1-year-old daughter.
“She was just extremely happy all the time,” Cameron Lindberg said of his wife. “She was never down. She always cared so much about everyone. She wanted to change the world.”
(Photo courtesy of Cameron Lindberg) Cameron and Mechelle Lindberg on their wedding day in December 2014. Mechelle Lindberg was found dead in a Salt Lake City hotel Tuesday morning. Police are searching for two people believed to be with Lindberg before she died.
Cameron Lindberg found out about his wife’s death from her family. At first he was crushed, but within minutes he was overcome with peace.
“I knew that she was in a better place and she didn’t have to fight her demons anymore,” he said.
(Photo courtesy of Cameron Lindberg) Mechelle Lindberg and her daughter Alana. Lindberg was found dead in a Salt Lake City hotel Tuesday morning. Police are searching for two people believed to be with Lindberg before she died.
Hansen and Pena each have a history of drug- and theft-related charges, and Pena was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2008. Hansen has several warrants out for her arrest, court records say.
Officers responded Tuesday to an 8:41 a.m. call from someone outside a second-floor room at the Gateway Inn, near 800 West on North Temple, reporting “a person down.”
At the scene, police said Mechelle Lindberg’s body and evidence suggested something “suspicious,” Wilking said. “It doesn’t look like an overdose. It looks like more than that.”
Investigators didn’t know Tuesday how long the woman had been in the room, nor whether she was renting a room at the inn or visiting someone there.
At the time of her death, Mechelle Lindberg was wanted on a no-bail warrant for failing to appear for a Sept. 7 hearing in Provo’s 4th District Court, where she had been charged with misdemeanor counts of drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Springville police in March found Mechelle Lindberg with baggies containing methamphetamine and heroin, as well as a syringe containing meth, court records state.
She also was on probation in Orem, where she pleaded no contest to misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia in June.
Anyone with information about the homicide case is asked to call 801-799-3000 and reference case 17-224975. Police said Hansen and Pena could be dangerous and should not be approached.
