An illegal immigrant from Mexico suspected of killing his Utah girlfriend was deported in December and then returned to Utah just days before her body was recovered in Tooele.
Talia Benward, 31, of Kearns, was last seen around 3:15 p.m. at a Maverik store in West Jordan on New Year’s Day. Authorities found her body in a remote area of Tooele, about a 45-minute drive from West Jordan.
The Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake said Sunday that Benward’s boyfriend, Nestor Rocha-Aguayo, a 24-year-old from Sinaloa, Mexico, had been apprehended in connection with Benward’s disappearance and murder.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Aguayo-Rocha is a Mexican national who was twice removed from the United States.
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He entered the country illegally near Calexico, California, on Sept. 1, 2016. He was convicted on local charges years later, and an officer with Enforcement and Removal Operations placed a detainer with the Salt Lake County Metro Jail in Utah on Jan. 22, 2024.
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ERO officials took him into custody on April 2, and an immigration judge granted him voluntary departure. He returned to Mexico on April 30.
Rocha-Aguayo then illegally reentered the United States at an unknown date and location. ERO officers in November encountered him at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail, where he was being held on local charges.
ERO officials again took Rocha-Aguayo into custody, and he returned to Mexico on Dec. 24.
“He reentered the U.S. a third time without admission by an immigration official,” the ICE spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
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U.S. Marshals arrested Rocha-Aguayo on Jan. 5 on charges of aggravated murder, abuse or desecration of a dead human being, aggravated robbery, and other charges. ERO placed a detainer with Salt Lake County Metro Jail the same day.
Surveillance video footage apparently shows Benward pulling into the Maverik gas station in a “borrowed” vehicle on New Year’s Day, and Rocha-Aguayo getting into the passenger seat, at which point the “two began pointing at each other, they rolled up their windows and it appeared as if they were arguing,” according to court documents obtained by 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 back toward Salt Lake City, according to FOX 13.
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Detectives later found blood stains inside the vehicle the couple had been driving in together. When they located Benward’s remains covered in sticks behind some brush in a remote area of the interstate in Tooele, they also located the remnants of a floor mat that matched the floor mats inside the vehicle the couple was driving.
Court documents show his prior charges from last year include robbery, aggravated assault, property damage, two counts of possession with intent to distribute, failure to stop at the command of a law enforcement officer, reckless driving, interfering with a peace officer, operating a vehicle on an unopen street, burglary, assault and unlawful detention.
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He was also involved in multiple domestic violence incidents with Benward.
Police are investigating Benward’s death as a homicide and asking anyone with information to send tips to 801-840-4000. Please reference case CO25-473. Tips can remain anonymous.
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