Illegal immigrant from Mexico Suspected of killing his girlfriend from Utah She was deported in December and then returned to Utah just days before her body was recovered in Tooele.
Talia Benward, 31, from Cairns, was last seen at around 3.15pm at the Maverick store. In western Jordan On New Year's Day. Authorities found her body in a remote area in Tooele, about a 45-minute drive west of Jordan.
Benward's boyfriend, Nestor Rocha Aguayo, 24, of Sinaloa, Mexico, has been arrested in connection with Benward's disappearance and murder, the Greater Salt Lake Unified Police Department said Sunday.
Aguayo Rocha is a Mexican citizen who has been deported twice from the United States, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
he He entered the country illegally Near Calexico, California, on September 1, 2016. He was convicted on local charges years later, and an officer with Enforcement and Removal Operations booked a detainer into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail in Utah on January 22, 2024.
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ERO officials took him into custody On April 2, an immigration judge granted him voluntary departure. he He returned to Mexico On April 30th.
Rocha Aguayo then returned to the United States illegally at an unknown date and location. ERO officers met him in November at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail, where he was being held on local charges.
ERO officials took Rocha Aguayo into custody again, and he returned to Mexico on December 24.
“He returned to the United States for the third time without being accepted by an immigration official,” an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
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US Marshals arrested Rocha Aguayo on January 5 Charges of aggravated murderInsulting or desecrating a dead person, aggravated robbery and other charges. ERO placed him in custody at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail the same day.
Surveillance video footage apparently shows Benward entering a Maverick gas station in a “borrowed” vehicle on New Year’s Day, with Rocha Aguayo sitting in the passenger seat, at which point the two “began pointing at each other, and rolled down their windows.” It appeared as if they were arguing,” according to court documents he obtained Fox 13 Salt Lake City.
They were together for several hours before they drove together to Tooele, where Benward's phone stopped tracking her location while Rocha-Aguayo continued toward Salt Lake City, according to FOX 13.
Investigators later found bloodstains inside the car the couple was driving together. When they found Benward's stick-covered remains behind some bushes in a remote area of the highway in Tooele, they also found the remains of a floor mat that matched the mats inside the car the couple was driving.
Court documents show his previous charges from last year include robbery, aggravated assault, property damage, two counts of possession with intent to distribute, failure to stop at command of a law enforcement officer, reckless driving, interfering with a peace officer, operating a vehicle on an open street, burglary, assault and unlawful detention.
He was also involved in several domestic violence incidents with Benward.
Police are investigating Benward's death as a homicide and are asking anyone with information to text a tip to 801-840-4000. Please refer to case CO25-473. Tips can remain anonymous.