- Three individuals face charges accusing them of hiding a vehicle in a 2024 killing.
- The vehicle was used in two shootings, according to police, and later cleaned of evidence.
- Police found bullet holes in the stored Chevrolet Impala.
MILLCREEK — Three people are now facing criminal charges accusing them of helping hide a vehicle used in the 2024 killing of an 18-year-old boy at the Mt. Olympus Trailhead.
Tamara Mikol Bookhout, 56, of Midvale; Tyler Ferguson, 49, of Midvale; and Brooke Martinez, 44, of Murray, were each charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.
On Aug. 3, 2024, Naod Welday, 18, of Millcreek, was shot and killed about 4:30 a.m. at the Mount Olympus trailhead parking lot at 5425 Wasatch Blvd. His body was found in the driver's seat of the vehicle in which he was trying to hide. Police say Welday and his friends, who are not associated with any gangs, were approached by a group of documented gang members and were attacked.
Four people were charged as adults with murder: Joshua Arthur Mielke, who was 16 at the time, Mateo Heriberto Martinez, Alex Daniel Ruiz-Martinez, and Christian de la Rosa, who was 17. The cases are still ongoing in court.
Hours after the Mount Olympus trailhead killing, Martinez and de la Rosa were involved in a gang-related shooting in Midvale, according to prosecutors. The same vehicle, a Chevrolet Impala, was used in both incidents, police say. The car was also used to drive one of the attackers to a local hospital after the Midvale shooting, charging documents state.
In court documents filed Tuesday, detectives found a text message to Brooke Martinez from her brother stating, "I remember just days ago helping hide a getaway car I had nothing to do with." Police also allegedly found messages between Martinez and other family members discussing how to hide the Impala.
Martinez asked Ferguson and Bookhout "for help moving the Impala to a storage unit," according to charging documents. She allegedly told them the car needed to be hidden from "the repo man."
On Sept. 27, 2024, Ferguson went to the storage unit where the Impala was being kept "and noticed bullet holes in the car. Ferguson admitted that he removed a piece of the rear bumper near the driver's side of the car to put a new piece in. Officers were called to the storage unit on suspicious circumstances and found Ferguson actively cutting away bullet holes in the Impala," the charges allege.
Detectives served a search warrant on the Impala on Sept. 30, 2024, but "noted the Impala had been cleaned out, there was no trash, personal papers or personal belongings normally found in vehicles. Detectives noted over 12 bullet holes in the Impala, but there were no bullets or bullet fragments inside the Impala. Additionally, the back rear window had been carefully covered with plastic and sealed with tape," according to the charges.
