JUNCTION, Utah, Aug. 28, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — An 18-year-old man was sentenced Monday to serve 25 years to life in prison for shooting and killing a 16-year-old Piute High School student in January.
Francisco Daniel Aguilar was 17 on Jan. 8 when he shot and killed Jacqueline “Jacky” Nunez, whose body was found about 10 p.m. that night near a dirt road north of Circleville, police said.
Aguilar, who turned 18 on Aug. 25, was convicted of aggravated murder, a non-capital felony because he was a juvenile at the time of the girl’s death.
“Justice was done today in our county,” Piute County Sheriff Marty Gleave said in a news release.
“This has been an emotional case for this little county, and for all of the surrounding counties, as this 16-year-old girl was an athlete, a student, a friend and a sister and daughter who was loved [by] so many,” Gleave said.
Piute County prosecutors say Aguilar shot Nunez in the leg, shattering her femur, “as she was fleeing from [his] vehicle in an attempt to reach a vehicle driven by her friend,” according to charging documents.
Aguilar also fired “multiple shots” at the friend’s vehicle, “shattering the passenger window and also hitting the passenger side of [the] vehicle,” the charges state.
Nunez’s adult friend was shot at several times and “had to drive away to escape death or serious bodily injury.”
Prosecutors say Aguilar then “walked to where [Nunez] was laying and bleeding on a dirt road, and shot her in the head from a close distance, causing her death.” He then fled the scene, charges state.
A Sevier County sheriff’s deputy spotted Aguilar’s vehicle about 11 p.m. that night in Glenwood, charges state. Aguilar refused to pull over, leading to a short pursuit that ended with his vehicle’s tires being spiked, according to charging documents.
Aguilar was arrested at 11:16 p.m. and was later booked into the Sevier County Jail, where he remains while awaiting transport to the Utah State Correctional Facility.
“Jacky was a sophomore at Piute High School who loved to play sports,” Nunez’s obituary says. “She was an athlete, participated in volleyball, basketball, softball, cross country running, track and field. She was a ray of sunshine in everyone’s life. She would love to be remembered as a light-hearted, funny, caring, kind, smart, brave, strong young lady.”
