3 Utahns were kidnapped, murdered and buried in Tooele mountains, police say

WEST VALLEY CITY — Three Salt Lake County residents who disappeared more than a year ago were kidnapped and murdered, and their bodies were buried in a remote area of Tooele County, according to West Valley police.

The man police believe is responsible is already serving time in the Utah State Prison after being convicted earlier this year of shooting two people at a rodeo near Utah Lake. Potential murder charges in the new case are expected to be screened this week by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.

In April 2022, Rocio Baneulos-Bustamante, 29, Carlos Sepulveda-Montes, age unknown, and Zamir Sanchez-Hernandez, 35, were reported missing to various police agencies. Family members told West Valley police that Baneulos-Bustamante was last seen in late March 2022, getting into a car with the other two men.

On April 3, 2022, Sepulveda-Montes was reported missing to Taylorsville police. Sanchez-Hernandez was later reported missing to Unified police.

By June 2022, two confidential informants had told Baneulos-Bustamante’s family she was already dead and to stop looking for her, according to documents filed in the 3rd District Court. One person told a family member that Baneulos-Bustamante was buried “up the mountain” somewhere.

As detectives continued collecting information about the case, they learned Cesar Matias Sevilla-Aleman, 26, of Orem — who was also involved in a shooting on Sept. 4, 2022, at a rodeo being held at Lincoln Beach on the west side of West Mountain near the town of Genola — may have a connection to at least one of the missing victims, West Valley police confirmed Wednesday. Sevilla-Aleman was sentenced in July to consecutive prison terms of five years to life and three to 15 years for the shootings.

A West Valley police detective served a search warrant on Sevilla-Aleman’s cellphone, which had been seized by Utah County sheriff’s deputies. After going through the phone’s historical location data, the detective discovered it overlapped with one of the missing victims, according to police. Investigators also say they learned that early in the morning on March 28, 2022, Sevilla-Aleman was likely in the Rush Valley area of Tooele County.

Earlier this year, on April 22, cadaver dogs located human remains while training in the area of the Mercur Trailhead in Tooele County. Three bodies and two bullets were found in a grave the next day, according to West Valley police, and a wallet that contained Sanchez-Hernandez’s identification was found in the back pocket of one of the victims.

Investigators used DNA, fingerprints, and tattoos on the bodies to positively identify the remains as the three missing people.

West Valley police say a witness later told them that on the morning of March 28, 2022, Sevilla-Aleman was talking with others about how Sepulveda-Montes owed him money but couldn’t pay, so he allegedly took them up a mountain, shot them, and then buried them.