Skip to main content
Archive (2005-2006)

Bodies found in trash

Associated Press and Daily Universe Reports

SALT LAKE CITY -- Sheree Allen and Suzanne Maxwell, both with histories of prostitution, were found dead this year, their bodies placed in garbage bags and discarded in trash bins in Salt Lake County.

Allen's body was found in January and police said the death was a homicide. Maxwell's body was found Friday and no cause of death has been released, though Salt Lake City police spokesman Kevin Joiner said the death was suspicious.

?It?s definitely foul play,? Joiner said in regards to Maxwell?s death. ?She didn?t crawl into a garbage bag herself, but we?re not calling it a homicide yet. We?re waiting for the cause of death from the medical examiner, and we?ll determine the course of the investigation from there.?

Allen was found in West Valley City, where police Capt. Steve Sandquist said Saturday that investigators from the two cities likely would be in contact about the deaths.

Allen, 22, a mother of two sets of twins, was found on Jan. 24 inside a trash bin behind a West Valley video store. A medical examiner said she could have died 24 to 72 hours before her body was discovered. Police have not said how she died.

Less than a month before her death, police arrested Allen on suspicion of prostitution.

She had an earlier conviction for forgery, and when she died she was listed as wanted for failing to comply with the terms of her probation.

People who knew Allen said she worked the parking lots on State Street and stayed with a man with an arrest record.

Less is known about Maxwell, who police on Saturday said was 35 years old and on Sunday said was 45 years old.

In 1991, she pleaded guilty to sex solicitation and disorderly conduct.

She received drug rehabilitation as part of her sentence.

She pleaded guilty to prostitution in 1993 and sex solicitation in 1994, according to court records.