An illegal alien from Mexico has been charged with murdering his girlfriend in Utah. This comes one week after he was deported from the United States for the second time.
According to the New York Post, Nestor Rocha-Aguayo, 24, is accused of killing 31-year-old Talia Benward and dumping her body in a remote area in Tooele, just outside Salt Lake City, last week.
Reportedly, surveillance footage showed the couple having an argument in a car. Predictably, the accused killer has a rap sheet (via NYP):
The accused killer, who has a string of drug and domestic violence raps, had already been deported back to Mexico twice — most recently on Christmas Eve, following a drug-related arrest.
But he managed to illegally cross back over the US border just days before the slaying, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told The Post.
“He reentered the US a third time without admission by an immigration official,” an ICE spokesperson said.
Reportedly, Rocha-Aguayo first entered the United States illegally in September 2016, where he crossed near Calexico, California, immigration officials told the outlet.
Last January, he was arrested and convicted on local charges in Salt Lake City. He was then released into federal custody and an immigration judge ordered him to be removed on April 30.
Rocha-Aguayo re-entered the United States and was picked up again on local charges in Salt Lake City on Nov. 25. He was turned over to ICE and deported again. He entered the states illegally a third time.
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The Post noted that local authorities said he had recently contacted his girlfriend to say he was back in the state and asked her to pick him up.
On New Year’s Day, surveillance video captured his girlfriend, Talia Benward, pulling into a gas station with a car she borrowed. Rocha-Aguayo jumped into the passenger seat and the two began arguing.
Several hours later, her phone stopped tracking her location. Her body was discovered on Saturday in a remote area where he cell phone last pinged (via NYP):
A burn pit with partially burned remains of a car floor mat, as well as blood-stained rocks were found nearby, court papers charge.
Rocha-Aguayo was later taken into custody on a slew of charges — including aggravated murder, abuse or desecration of a dead human being and aggravated robbery.
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