This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Layton • The family of Jessica I. Jensen remembers her as a sister, daughter, mother and even a former high school cheerleader, but they also acknowledge there was something else.
Jensen had bipolar disorder and treatment programs never worked, her brother and father said on Friday. Her illness led her to drug use and ultimately to the Salt Lake City motel room where Jensen's body was found Thursday. Police have called her the victim of a homicide.
Salt Lake City police on Friday identified Jensen's body as the one found beneath a mattress and box spring in room 12 of the Capitol Motel, 1749 S. State St., after a guest reported a foul odor. The Jensen family said detectives believe Jensen died Monday on what was her 26th birthday.
Late Thursday, police arrested Thomas Joseph Kumulac, 28, on suspicion of first-degree felony murder. A document filed with the Salt Lake County Jail says Kumulac admitted to "actively causing the female victim's death." Police have not disclosed how Jensen died, and her family declined to discuss that aspect Friday.
Jensen was the youngest of seven children. Her father, Mike, said another of his daughters died at age 11 of an illness.
Jensen had received treatment for her bipolar disorder since age 16, Mike Jensen said. She was a cheerleader at Layton High School but graduated from another school.
Sitting on his ex-wife's back porch with other family members Friday, Mike Jensen rattled off a list of local treatment programs his daughter attended. Jensen stayed in several programs for 90 days but then the programs, unequipped to provide long-term care, would release her with prescribed medications, Mike Jensen said.
"It was just a Band-Aid, a temporary fix," Mike Jensen said.
His daughter knew she was sick but would quickly go off her medication, he said, and begin using street drugs.
State court records show Jensen had at least six felony cases for a variety of drug and theft offenses.
Records show no criminal history in Utah for Kumulac. Mike Jensen referred to Kumulac as his daughter's "partner in crime," but did not elaborate and did not know how long the pair knew each other. Jensen had been living with friends, her father said.
Jensen's brother, Eric Jensen, and her father said they last spoke to her last week. On Monday, they sent text and Facebook messages wishing her a happy birthday but did not receive replies.
Eric Jensen, 40, said he wanted his sister in a long-term, private-care facility but his family could not afford it.
"I really believe the state needs to evaluate and the federal government needs to evaluate how they treat mental illness," Eric Jensen said.
He later added: "There's a lot of kids out there like her."
Jessica Jensen leaves behind a 5-year-old daughter who lives with her father, the family said.
— Tribune reporter Bob Mims contributed to this story.
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