Juan Antonio Arreola-Murillo Enters Guilty Pleas for 2006 and 2008 Murders

Today, in Third District Court, Juan Antonio Arreola-Murillo entered guilty pleas for the February 9, 2006 aggravated murders of Sonia Mejia and her unborn child, and the February 9, 2008 aggravated murder of Damiana Castillo.

 

Mr. Arreola-Murillo pled guilty to three counts of aggravated murder, each a first-degree felony. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 10, 2023.

 

Following the 2008 homicide, and before a positive identification was made, Mr. Arreola-Murillo was deported to Mexico. In 2016, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) reported a positive match on the latent fingerprints that were obtained from the scene of Ms. Mejia’s and Ms. Castillo’s murders. On April 5, 2017, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office reviewed and filed formal criminal charges against Mr. Arreola-Murillo, who at the time was serving a prison sentence in Mexico for a series of aggravated robberies. Following his prison sentence and the extradition process, Mr. Arreola-Murillo was returned to the State of Utah from Mexico in January 2022. 

 

“Our office mourns the losses of Damiana Castillo, Sonia Mejia and her unborn child. While perfect justice would mean that these three individuals would still be with us today, we hope that these guilty pleas can bring a semblance of justice and closure for these families,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. “We would like to acknowledge Unified Police Department, West Valley City Police Department, and our prosecutors for their efforts on this case. We would like to also thank our partner agencies on extraditing Mr. Arreola-Murillo back to Utah to account for his crimes.”