Salt Lake man charged with murder threatened to bash victim’s head in, police say

SALT LAKE CITY — A man will be held without bail and is charged with first-degree murder after police say he killed a man with blows to the head, possibly with a hammer.

Nathan David Evans, 41, faces a felony charge of abuse or desecration of a human body to go along with the murder charge. Investigators claim Evans killed David Hinklebein in a temporary storage warehouse at at 502 W. 300 South in Salt Lake City.

“The defendant (Evans) is clearly a danger to the community,” charging documents state. “Due to the nature of the allegations, the defendant should be held without bail.”

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Investigators learned Evans and Hinklebein were employees of the storage facility called A Place For Your Stuff. A third employee reported bloody handprints on the wall in a back office in the facility. He reported a need for a cleanup and the possibility that Hinklebein was dead after not seeing him for several days.

Detectives located a body and “a large amount of blood” in the office where they said he had been moved after he was beaten and stabbed in another area of the building. Investigators also interviewed driver who said he heard Evans threaten to “kill a guy … by bashing his head in.” Evans reportedly said the man messed with his stuff and Evans didn’t like how he was being treated.

The threat matched the injuries found to Hinklebein’s body. Detectives also discovered a hammer with blood and hair on it. An autopsy by Utah’s medical examiner, found the victim was killed by severe “sharp/blunt force injuries to the head” and ruled the death was a homicide. The driver also picked Evans out of a lineup as the man who made the threats.

The employee who reported the possible killing had started to walk to the office where the body was found to look for Hinklebein. Evans reportedly told him, “He’s not back there!” He said eventually Evans said of Hinklebein, “He’s done!”

In an interview with police, Evans said he worked the night shift with the victim and the employee who reported the possible killing but denied going into the back office while Hinklebein was missing. Police served a warrant on Evans and found injuries to his eyebrow, both knees and located possible blood in his hair. A garbage bag was found with the victim’s clothes in it.

The charges and n0-bail request were filed in Salt Lake’s third district court by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.