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- Four individuals charged associated with the 2021 death of Conzuelo "Nicole" Solorio-Romero's are now sentenced.
- Ivan Acosta pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice on Thursday, and was sentenced to two years of probation.
- Trial dates were set for Carolina Marquez and Fernando Marquez on Thursday, but Fernando Marquez is still considering a plea deal.
SALT LAKE CITY — Four years ago, a 25-year-old Kearns woman was taken from her home at gunpoint and later found dead, her body abandoned in Tooele County. Now, one of the remaining criminal cases connected to her death has been resolved, and two others are set for trial.
On Feb. 6, 2021, Conzuelo "Nicole" Solorio-Romero was forced into a vehicle at gunpoint and taken to the West Valley residence at knifepoint. While she was in the house, prosecutors say she was shot twice, and then her body was transported to Tooele County and left on the side of a road.
Six people were charged in 2021 in connection to the killing.
- Carolina Marquez, 38, of Salt Lake City, and her son Fernando Marquez, 22, of Kearns, were charged in 3rd District Court with murder, obstruction of justice and aggravated kidnapping, all first-degree felonies. Carolina Marquez is also charged with desecration of a human body, a third-degree felony.
- Orlando Esiesa Tobar, 29, from Honduras, and Jorge Rafael Medina-Reyes, 21, were charged with aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping and obstructing justice, all first-degree felonies.
- Cristian Noe Morales-Gonzales, 26, address unknown, and Ivan Jesus Acosta, 27, of Salt Lake City, were charged with abuse or desecration of a dead body, a third-degree felony. Acosta and Morales were also charged with obstructing justice, a first-degree felony.
On Thursday, Ivan Acosta pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, a class A misdemeanor, in connection with the killing. He admitted to helping clean up the crime scene and breaking a basket at the West Valley City studio apartment where prosecutors say the woman was shot.
Acosta's plea deal dismissed a charge for abuse or desecration of a human body, a third-degree felony, and reduced an obstruction of justice charge from a first-degree felony to a misdemeanor.
Prosecutors have said they are not sure what motivated the killing was but said it is possible she was accused of being a snitch or may have been doing drugs with the daughter of Carolina Marquez.
Deputy Salt Lake County attorney Anna Anderson said the family of Solorio-Romero was aware of the plea deal he was planning to accept and agreed to it.
Third District Judge Patrick Corum said he was satisfied with the resolution because Acosta complied with court orders and is a "critical component" of the two remaining cases set for trial.
Attorneys said he was admitting in the plea to destroying or concealing a basket at the crime scene and helping to clean up.
Corum sentenced Acosta to one year in jail, giving him credit for the over eight months he served and suspending the rest of the year in favor of 24 months of probation. He also ordered Acosta not to leave the state of Utah without permission, to give lawful testimony in future hearings, and to pay an equal share of any money the court determines is owed to Solorio-Romero's family.
Carolina Marquez and Fernando Marquez were both scheduled for trial at the same time, in late October and early November, during separate hearings on Thursday — but it is not likely they will end up both facing trial that week. Anderson said there is "zero" chance that Fernando Marquez's case will go to trial because she expects to reach a plea deal before then.
Carolina Marquez's attorney, Rudy Bautista, said he would oppose having the trials together. He said his defense strategy would be antagonistic to the other case, meaning a jury would need to decide to believe one defendant over the other, causing prejudice.
Bautista said prosecutors and Carolina Marquez had not been able to agree on a plea deal, and they were "at least 15 years apart," in terms of what the potential sentence would be for the charges.
Anderson contested this, saying they had offered a plea deal for Carolina Marquez to reduce the murder charge to manslaughter and change the details of her aggravated kidnapping charge so it would no longer require a judge to sentence her to life in prison without parole. She said these changes would lead to a sentence that was not 15 years different from what Bautista was requesting. That offer is now withdrawn, with Anderson saying it would not be available for her to accept at a later date.
Bautista said the difference matters to his client.
"With diabetes and hypertension and her age, it's a death sentence either way," he responded.
In May 2024, Tobar pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated kidnapping, both first-degree felonies. Medina-Reyes, who charges say assisted Tobar in taking Solorio-Romero from her home to where she was killed, pleaded guilty to the same charges under a similar plea deal in June 2024.
Both men were sentenced on July 23 to two terms of 15 years to life in prison, one for each count; however, Medina-Reyes was ordered to serve the terms at the same time, while Tobar was ordered to serve them consecutively based on what the judge called "deeply, deeply concerning" jokes he made in videos right after the woman was shot.
Christian Morales pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, a class A misdemeanor, under a plea deal dismissing charges for murder and aggravated kidnapping, and received the same sentence in June 2024 that Acosta received on Thursday — a year in jail that was suspended in favor of two years of probation.
