ST. GEORGE — A 20-year-old man arrested in Washington County over the weekend is facing a first-degree felony charge for murder following an investigation into the shooting of a man found dead near the shoulder of Interstate 80 in Tooele County on Feb. 15.
The suspect, Alejandro Manuel Moore, of West Jordan, was taken into custody by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper in Washington City and booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility early Thursday morning.
According to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest, Moore is accused of killing an Ogden man who was found on Feb. 15 in Tooele County, an incident that was being handled by the State Bureau of Investigation, an investigative arm of the UHP.
Leading up to the arrest shortly after 4 p.m. on Saturday, UHP troopers spotted Moore’s vehicle, a Dodge Dart, heading south on Interstate 15. Troopers followed the car as it exited the freeway and pulled into a gas station off Green Springs Drive in Washington City.
Washington City Police Chief Jason Williams told St. George News that officers in Washington County were aware that State Bureau of Investigation agents were searching for the Dodge in connection with the incident reported in Tooele County.
After approaching St. George Police, who were at the service station, Moore reportedly asked the officer why he was following him. Police advised Moore that detectives wanted to speak to him, and he was taken to the Washington City Police Department, due to its close proximity, while state agents in charge of the Tooele County investigation traveled to Washington County to interview Moore.
Following the interview with investigators, Moore was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility where he was booked into jail.
The arrest stems from an incident reported shortly after 3 p.m. on Feb. 15, when State Bureau of Investigations agents were called in to investigate a report of a man lying dead off of westbound I-80 near mile marker 94, an area in eastern Tooele County less than 20 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Agents arrived to find a dead, middle-aged Hispanic man with multiple bullet wounds on his body. Nearby vegetation was stained with what appeared to be blood and about a dozen spent shell casings were recovered and later turned over to crime scene technicians.
Also recovered were two T-shirts that appeared to be brand-new that officers later learned were purchased hours before the shooting took place. The victim was later identified as Anthony Bracamonte, of Ogden, and his body was transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Taylorsville for an autopsy.
Authorities say Bracamonte was last seen at his residence in Ogden on Feb. 11, four days before his body was found. According to the report, witnesses saw Bracamonte get into an orange Dodge Dart driven by Moore, who was a friend and former co-worker of the victim.
They also learned that on the night in question, both men had planned to travel west along I-80 to Wendover, near where the victim’s body was discovered by police.
Several hours after Bracamonte was last seen leaving his residence in Ogden, the suspect returned to the apartment complex alone, investigators say, and reportedly told the victim’s girlfriend the two had gotten into an altercation over a credit card purchase.
During the interview, the girlfriend also reportedly told investigators that as the two were arguing, Moore told her that Bracamonte attempted to get out of the car while they were traveling along I-80, and then Bracamonte became aggressive and fought with the suspect, which is when Moore told police he “eventually left him on the side of the freeway,” the agent noted.
Agents also learned of a second suspect, identified as David Tenis, who was found in Tooele County and arrested by police. Tenis told investigators that Moore and Bracamonte were seen fighting on the shoulder of I-80 in the early morning hours of Feb. 12, which is when Tenis said the suspect shot the victim approximately five times, the report states, and then after Bracamonte was down, Tenis said that Moore “stood over him shooting him in the face about five more times.”
Authorities say Moore was known to own several firearms, including the 9 mm that matched the casings found near the victim’s body, a gun that Moore allegedly told several witnesses “went missing” shortly after the incident and was reportedly thrown from the vehicle, along with Moore’s cellphone.
Investigators also collected a wallet from an Ogden mini-mart belonging to Moore that was left in the store and later turned over to police. During a search, officers also recovered surveillance footage from a nearby restaurant that showed the Dodge leaving the mini-mart.
Additionally, officers recovered surveillance footage from a store in West Valley that showed the suspect and the victim purchasing the T-shirts with tags still attached that later matched up with clothing found near the body.
As the investigation progressed, agents recovered information from Moore’s cellphone that included GPS location information indicating that in the early morning hours of Feb. 12, roughly 12 hours after Bracamonte was last seen alive, Moore was in the area of I-80 near where the victim’s body was found.
Ten days into the investigation, the Dodge was spotted in Washington County heading south along I-15 on Saturday evening.
While speaking to police, Moore reportedly said he was with the victim on the evening in question. And following an altercation, he returned to the vehicle to find Bracamonte making sexual advances toward his mother, which is when Moore said he told the victim to get out of his car.
Moore said Bracamonte got out “somewhere near” a truck stop off of I-80 near the state Route 201 exchange, which agents noted was less than 7 miles from where the victim’s body was discovered days later, the report states.
Moore also reportedly told investigators that later that same night, he returned to the area in search of the victim, efforts he said continued until 6 a.m. the following morning. He also said all of the data from his phone was “wiped” clean during a factory reset, which he said was necessary due to issues.
In reference to the handgun, Moore told investigators that his Smith and Wesson 9 mm handgun went “missing” at around the same time as the shooting, according to the report.
The agent said Moore spoke of the victim “in the past tense” and finished by saying, “it was my gun that killed him,” and then told agents he was done.
Following the arrest Saturday, the suspect remains in custody without bail until arrangements can be made to return the suspect to Tooele County.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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