Twice-deported illegal charged with murder of ex-girlfriend in Utah

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A Utah woman is dead and her ex-boyfriend, an illegal alien who has been deported from the United States twice, is being charged with her murder.

The body of 31-year-old Talia Benward was tragically located in Tooele, Utah after she was last seen on New Year’s Day in West Jordan. According to the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, 24-year-old Nestor Rocha-Aguayo has been arrested in connection with her death. Rocha-Aguayo is a resident of Sinaloa, Mexico and according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), he has previously been removed from the United States not once, but twice.

In September 2016, he entered the United States illegally near Calexico, California, according to Fox News Digital. Rocha-Aguayo was convicted on local charges about a year later, and an Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officer officially placed a detainer on him in January 2024. He was sent back to Mexico after an immigration judge allowed him to have a voluntary departure.

But it didn’t stick, and he returned back to the US on an unknown date. ERO officers once again came in contact with him in November 2024, while he was incarcerated in the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on additional charges. He was once again returned to Mexico in December 24.

“He reentered the U.S. a third time without admission by an immigration official,” said an ICE official.

On January 5, U.S. Marshals apprehended Rocha-Aguayo and charged him with aggravated murder in the death of Benward. Additionally, he will be receiving charges of abuse or desecration of a dead human being, aggravated robbery, and others.

According to court documents obtained by Fox 13 Salt Lake City, the two were seen in a vehicle together on New Year’s Day and appeared to be engaged in an argument. They were reportedly still together as they drove to Tooele, where Benward’s phone officially stopped tracking her GPS data. Rocha-Aguayo’s phone, however, tracked him back to Salt Lake City.

“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,” Fox News reported.

The suspect also managed to rack up a large number of charges in the last year, including 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.