A Milton-Freewater man has been charged in connection with the murder of another man back in May.
The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office, in cooperation with the Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office, has charged Conor Michael Dayton, 24, of Milton Freewater, in the death of Marcos Jesus Gutierrez Rodriguez.
Detectives from UCSO and other law enforcement agencies, including the Oregon State Police, have continued to investigate this case since Gutierrez-Rodriguez’s badly burned body was discovered after a fire under the Eastside Road Bridge near Milton Freewater on the morning of May 22.
According to the UCSO, detectives have worked in following investigative leads, interviewing numerous witnesses and persons of interest, and locating and examining evidence.
The UCSO said today that on July 8, Dayton admitted that he started the fire that burned Gutierrez-Rodriguez. Dayton claimed that he found Gutierrez-Rodriguez’s deceased body at the location and started the fire to hide his drug use.
“Since then, we have learned, and are alleging that Mr. Dayton is responsible for killing Mr. Gutierrez-Rodriguez and then burning his body in an attempt to hide evidence,” said Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan in a press release.
The Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office will be presenting the case to a grand jury in the near future. Assisting in the case was the Oregon State Police, Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office, and the Hermiston Police Department.
