Mother of AMBER Alert children found dead with neck wound in burning house, docs say

Yahoo

25-03-2025

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RIVERDALE, Utah () — The mother of the two children that were the was reportedly found with a puncture wound in her neck after her house was set on fire.
This is according to new court documents following the arrest of the children's father, Ricardo Trujillo Rojel, 29, on first-degree felony charges of aggravated murder and aggravated arson.
Police responded to the structure fire near 5100 South and 1000 West shortly before 3 p.m. on March 24. Upon arriving, officers found the victim with severe burns and a puncture wound to her neck. Investigators ruled her cause of death a homicide and found the fire had been started using an accelerant.
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Witnesses say Rojel, the victim and their children were set to move out of the home that day. One neighbor allegedly heard a woman scream sometime before officers arrived for the structure fire.
Shortly after, when Rojel and the two children could not be found, the AMBER Alert was issued. Rojel's truck was later found a quarter-mile up from Hobble Creek Canyon and witnesses reported seeing an adult male walking away from the truck with two children.
Local police agencies located Rojel, who allegedly resisted arrest and assaulted an officer. He was eventually safely taken into custody and booked into the Weber County Jail.
'[Rojel] was the last person known to be with the victim on this date,' court documents read. '[He] turned off his phone and left his vehicle with his two young children to an area that was over an hour away from home when he was supposed to be moving to Roy with the victim.'
Police said Rojel was uncooperative with law enforcement and would not speak. Rojel allegedly has a history with the victim involving domestic violence, including an arrest in January for multiple domestic violence charges.
Rojel has been ordered to be held without bail, pending a pretrial hearing.
The two children were safely recovered and taken into custody by the Department of Child and Family Services at the Utah County Sheriff's Office.
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