Couple accused of killing husband turn on each other after arrest: Police

A Utah man and his significant other faced arrest following the discovery of her husband's body alongside a secluded road last month.

Francisco Santos-Morales, aged 31, and Reina Chavez Sandobal, aged 41, were both charged with the desecration of a dead body and the obstruction of justice after Sandobal’s husband was found deceased on March 26.

As detailed in a statement by the Summit County Sheriff's Office, the deceased individual was located near Brown's Canyon Road in Summit County, Utah, and was "promptly identified." This identification led authorities to Sandobal, who was apprehended on April 1.

Santos-Morales was detained two days after, with law enforcement indicating that the two quickly began blaming one another.

Per an arrest report acquired by local NPR station KPCW, Sandobal and Santos-Morales were romantically involved when she informed him on March 25 that her unnamed husband was mistreating her.

Authorities noted that Sandobal claimed that Santos-Morales took her husband's life the following day.

Nonetheless, upon questioning Santos-Morales, he alleged that it was Sandobal who had "inflicted a fatal blow" to her husband.

According to allegations, Sandobal admitted to officers that she and Santos-Morales together transported her husband's body in a Honda Civic and abandoned it along the roadside.

Authorities reported she disclosed that they could locate the hammer used in the killing and a blood-soaked blanket within her apartment.

Officials revealed that the autopsy established the cause of death as blunt force impact to the head, categorising the manner of death as homicide.

Both Sandobal and Santos-Morales faced charges of desecrating a dead body and obstruction of justice.

Neither was charged concerning the man's death. Upcoming court dates for them were not disclosed to the public.