SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 10, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A judge Thursday ensured a murderer of three people, including an unborn child, will die in prison.
Juan Antonio Arreola-Murillo was sentenced to a prison term of 60 years to life for the Feb. 9, 2006 murder of Sonia Mejia and her unborn child, according to a press release from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office and 60 years to life for the Feb. 9, 2008 murder of Damiana Castillo.
Third District Judge Kara Pettit ordered the sentences to run consecutively.
Arreola-Murillo pleaded guilty in June to three counts of aggravated murder in the killings. Both women were strangled in their homes, Mejia, 29, in Taylorsville, and Castillo, 57, in West Valley City.
Arreola-Murillo was extradited from Mexico to Utah on the murder charges in January of 2022. He had been deported in 2008 from the U.S. before positive fingerprint identification in 2016 placed him at both crime scenes. Extradition came after he served prison terms in Mexico for multiple aggravated robberies.
Castillo’s son Thursday told the court that his family has waited years for this date and for justice while a grandson said a piece of his heart was taken the day of her death, the press release said. Mejia’s sister explained her murder has been so painful the family will never recover.
“Mr. Arreola-Murillo will hopefully spend the rest of his life in prison for the heinous and depraved murders of these three innocent victims,” District Attorney Sim Gill said in the release.
He lauded the work of the West Valley City and Unified Police departments in the case as well as prosecutor Vincent Meister and staff.
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