TAYLORSVILLE, Utah, July 21, 2026 (Gephardt Daily) — Ariana Aguilar, convicted of the 2024 death of her boyfriend, Jorge Llamas, has been sentenced to 17 years to life in prison.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced Tuesday that a Third District Court judge sentenced Ariana Aguilar to the following:
- First-degree felony murder, 15 years to life, to be served concurrently with count 2 (immediately below)
- First-degree felony aggravated burglary, 5 years to life
- Second-degree felony obstruction of justice, 1 to 15 years
- Second-degree felony obstruction of justice, 1 to 15 years
- Third-degree felony retaliation against a witness, 0 to 5 years
On Oct. 13, 2024, Taylorsville police responded to a shots-fired call and found Llamas, 21, unresponsive in a bedroom, with his girlfriend, Ariana Aguilar, on top of him, a statement from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office says.
“When medical personnel arrived, they declared Mr. Llamas deceased on the scene. As medical personnel attended to Mr. Llamas, there was a commotion in the living room. When police went to see what was happening, they saw Ariana holding a woman on the ground and hitting her.
“After police took Ms. Aguilar into custody, the woman she was hitting told them that Ariana and Mr. Llamas had been in a fight earlier in the evening, and Mr. Llamas had locked Ariana outside.
“She said that later, Ariana returned with her daughter, Natalie Aguilar, and some males whom she did not know. She said two of the males went into Mr. Llamas’s room, and then she heard a shot. She said she saw Ariana’s daughter and the males run from the home.”
Police later interviewed Natalie Aguilar, who admitted that her mother had called her after her fight with Llamas and said that they needed to come jump him because he had “put hands on” her.
“Natalie told police that she drove to Mr. Llamas’s home with V.V., Alejandro Mendoza, and J.M. While interviewing V.V., he admitted to police that two additional males were with them in the vehicle, A.M. and I.S.” (Initials are often used in court cases when the people referenced are juveniles.)
The five males were captured on surveillance camera entering a gas station at around the time they would have been driving with Natalie from Ogden to Taylorsville.
“In that surveillance footage, police observed A.M. lift his arm and hold his hand out like a gun; he was then observed doing a gun-pointing motion.”
Natalie Aguilar told police that when they arrived near Llamas’s house, they met Ariana, who got into the car, and the males got out.
“Natalie said she and her mother drove up to Mr. Llamas’s home. When investigators later reviewed surveillance footage near Mr. Llamas’s house, they observed all five males walking toward Mr. Llamas’s home. Natalie said that Ariana then broke a window screen to Mr. Llamas’s house, opened the window, and ordered A.M. and J.M. to go inside and open the door. Natalie told police that A.M. had a gun that was visible when he entered the home.
“Ariana allegedly led them to Mr. Llamas’ room, where he was sleeping. A.M. then allegedly started yelling at Mr. Llamas, hit him with the gun, then shot him. J.M. said he received a message from A.M. that said, ‘Sorry, someone must have put a bullet in the chamber.'”
Ariana Aguilar was charged on Oct. 23, 2024, and went to trial in April of this year. She was convicted with one count of first-degree felony murder, one count of first-degree felony aggravated burglary, two counts of second-degree felony obstruction of justice, and one count of third-degree felony retaliation against a witness.
The trial against Ariana Aguilar started on Monday, April 20, 2026, and she was convicted four days later.
George Lamas. Obituary photo
A letter from the mother of Llamas was read by victim counsel in the sentencing. Mr. Llamas had been the only support for his mother.
“She said that she had a decent life because of that support, but that was now gone. Mr. Llamas mother also wrote that the defendant had taken away the only thing that gave her strength to keep going, and since that day her health has worsened because of the thought of never seeing him against consumes her. She said his death was an injustice to all those who loved him and it left them all with a great void to fill.”
Co-defendants Alejandro Mendoza and Natalie Estella Aguilar were each convicted of one count of second-degree felony manslaughter and second-degree felony aggravated burglary, the news release says. The minors involved were charged and handled through the juvenile criminal justice system.
“We appreciate the decision by the jury and the judge to deliver justice for the loved ones of Jorge Llamas,” Salt Lake County DA Sim Gill said in the released statement.
“Reckless gun violence took the life of an innocent man. This prosecution helped deliver accountability for the fatal decision the defendant made to have people retaliate for a perceived wrong.”
Gill thanked the prosecutors and the Taylorsville Police Department for the work they put in on the case.
