Homicide of 54-year-old gay man remains unsolved nearly 60 years later

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Almost six decades later, the homicide of a 54-year-old Salt Lake City man remains unsolved.

On Oct. 23, 1966, Spence Mendenhall, 54, was found shot to death inside his apartment at 222 L Street in the Avenues, Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification records show.

The death of a bachelor

According to a BCI case file, Mendenhall was single gay man who lived alone. However, he reportedly had many intimate friends.

It is believed that Mendenhall maintained his sexual orientation a secret. Documents indicate he paid several men to not disclose it.

Reporting by the Salt Lake Tribune from 1968 indicates Mendenhall was found lying on his back between the house’s bathroom and hallway with three bullet wounds in his head.

Mendenhall was found after his older brother, Bayard, noticed newspaper was still on the front steps of the Avenues home.

A trail gone cold

According to the BCI report, the scene was “clumsily staged” to appear that Mendenhall had taken his own life. Reports indicate that despite police finding three bullet wounds, only two spent shell casings were ever found.

Remnants of a meal were found on the kitchen table, along with two plates, two knives, and two forks, reports show. A person of interest was questioned shortly after, against whom an extortion incident had been reported to police by Mendenhall. However, police cleared him as a suspect after a polygraph examination, archived news coverage shows.

There were no witnesses to the murder, leaving police with little evidence and no leads. The case remains unsolved to this day.

Death records list Mendenhall’s cause of death as a homicide, with the possibility of suicide. He was later buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.