Teens arrested in Taysorsville kidnapping-killing investigation to face charges as adults

TAYLORSVILLE — Three teen boys accused of shooting and killing a man who was trying to buy a gun from them and then disposing his body in a remote area of Utah County are now facing multiple felony charges.

Two of the teens were charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court as adults.

Rohan Sharoon, of Salt Lake City, and Pedro Alexis Romero-Bustos, of West Valley, both 17, were charged in 3rd District Court with murder and aggravated robbery, first-degree felonies; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and abuse or desecration of a dead body, a third-degree felony.

Sharoon was also charged with being in possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a second-degree felony.

Charging documents also list a boy, who turned 16 on Tuesday, as a defendant. But as of Tuesday, he had not been charged as an adult.

On March 17, Alexzia “Alex” Franco, 21, was last seen getting into a white Jeep Liberty on about 4:15 p.m. near 3800 West and 5700 South, close to his home. Witnesses heard a gunshot shortly after Franco got into the vehicle, which then sped away. Two days later, his body was discovered “in a remote desert area in Utah County” with a single gunshot wound, according to police.

According to Franco’s girlfriend, he was supposed to meet with some people he knew about the purchase of a gun, charging documents state. But when they arrived and he got into a Jeep with the three teens, “they appeared to be arguing with Franco” before “the vehicle drove off at a high rate of speed and she heard a loud noise which sounded like a gunshot,” the charges state.

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The Jeep was located later that day in Salt Lake City. Police discovered “the vehicle had been recently painted blue on the lower portions … the paint was still drying and showed visible brush strokes. The inside of the vehicle was wet and a blood stain could be seen on the floor and seatbelt of the rear passenger seat,” according to the charges.

As police were preparing to serve search warrants on the home where the vehicle was located, they learned that Sharoon had turned himself into Taylorsville police, the charges state. He then led detectives “to an area off of state Route 73 in Utah County where the body of Alex Franco was located. Franco was determined to have been killed by a gunshot to the left side of his head at close range,” according to the charges.

When the 16-year-old was questioned, he allegedly said he had called Romero-Bustos and told him “he had a ‘play’ to sell a gun,” the charges state.

Romero-Bustos told investigators that when the three teens drove to Franco, “they decided to rob Franco. Franco entered the vehicle on the rear passenger side and gave Sharoon money,” who then told Franco to get out of the vehicle, according to the charging documents.

Romero-Bustos claimed that Franco and the 16-year-old got into an argument “and that when he turned around to look in the back seat, he was pepper-sprayed. Bustos stated he then heard a loud bang and saw Franco slouched in the back seat with his head down and to the left,” the charges state.

Other witnesses told police that after the shooting, the teens met with relatives who “discussed what to do with the Jeep Liberty” because the adults did not want the boys to get in trouble, and at least one of the relatives “instructed them to paint and then burn the vehicle.”

Court documents for the teen state that the 16-year-old was on probation in juvenile court for a conviction of drug distribution at the time of the shooting.