This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
SPARKS, Nev. • A man arrested in West Wendover driving a dead man's stolen car is now a suspect in a homicide in Sparks after an autopsy confirmed the victim died from strangulation.
Sparks Police Sgt. John Franz says 38-year-old Michael Giesbrecht has not been charged but detectives want to question him as a suspect in the killing at a Sparks apartment Sunday night.
Police tracked him down near the Utah line on Monday with the stolen vehicle and stolen credit cards. He's being held in the Elko County Jail on theft charges and a fugitive warrant out of Idaho for a probation violation.
Sparks detectives say the victim has not been positively identified. Officers found his body responding to a 911 call at his apartment on Sparks Boulevard about 9 p.m. Sunday.