(Reuters) - Utah police identified on Tuesday two people of interest in the death of a teenage Colorado girl who vanished in December and whose remains were found in a suitcase in a remote park area late last month.
Kelly Mae Myers, 18, was reported missing in the mountain town of Grand Junction by relatives who said she might have been trying to hitchhike to visit friends in the Salt Lake City area.
Authorities said on Tuesday that a study of Myers' social media accounts as part of a missing persons search had shown she last logged on from an IP address at a Country Inn and Suites in West Valley City, Utah.
The West Valley City Police Department said detectives were told by hotel employees who cleaned the room she used there that they had found had a "foul odor" after the room was vacated.
"A further, forensic examination of the room revealed evidence that Myers likely died in that hotel room," the police department said in a statement.
It identified two persons of interest in the case, both already in custody on unrelated charges: Raymond Cordova, 47, and Eduardo Nasario Delacruz, 30.
It said Myers is believed to have been picked up by Cordova and to have traveled to Utah with him, and that the hotel room in West Valley City was rented by Delacruz.
"Information received by investigators indicated that Cordova disposed of the suitcase containing Myers' body in the Cactus Creek area," the police statement said.
"Using this information, WVCPD detectives were able to locate a suitcase containing Myers' body."
An autopsy was conducted on the remains by the coroner's office in Mesa County, Colorado. Police said on Tuesday results indicating the manner and cause of her death, as well as the results of toxicology tests, would likely take weeks.
(Editing by Paul Tait)
