An Orem man is in jail after he reportedly confessed to strangling his girlfriend as the two argued over a vape cartridge, police said.
According to a probable cause statement, the 27-year-old man called police Sunday to report that he had killed his girlfriend, adding that he had been drinking and needed to be taken in.
When officers arrived at the Orem basement apartment near 800 South and 700 West, they found the man on his knees in the living room, facing away from them with his hands behind his head. According to police, the man’s hands appeared to have blood on them.
Officers found the victim — who was not breathing — in a bedroom. They attempted life-saving measures, but when paramedics arrived they declared her dead. According to police, she had “significant facial injuries.”
When the suspect was questioned by police, the man said that he and the victim had been in a relationship for the past four months, and that the two of them had been drinking. He went on to say that when he grabbed a broken vape cartridge from the victim, she hit him. According to police, he said he pushed the victim, punched her in the face and choked her until she stopped moving.
The suspect told police he then drank a couple of shots of alcohol and texted two family members to tell them he had just killed someone and he wouldn’t be seeing them for a while.
The man was booked into the Utah County jail, where he is being held without bail pending formal charges.
The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not name suspects unless they have been charged with a crime.
